BULLETIN NO. 1574

MANPOWER

PLANNING

FOR

TECHNOLOGICAL

CHANGE

CASE

STUDIES

OF

TELEPHONE

OPERATORS

STATISTICS

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MANPOWER

PLANNING

FOR

TECHNOLOGICAL

CHANGE

Case

Studies of 

Telephone 

Operators

B U L L E T I N N O . 1 5 7 4

U N ITE D S TA TES D E P A R TM EN T OF LABOR 

Willard W irtz, Secretary

BUREAU OF LABOR S TA TIS TIC S 

A rth u r M. R oss, C o m m issio n er

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PREFACE

T echnological changes are a strategic fa ctor in the growth of the econom y. 

These advances, however, may be accom panied by displacem ent of labor, shifts in 

location of jobs, and changes in skill requirem ents. If efforts are made to manage 

changes in an orderly way, adverse effects on the status and security of individual 

employees can be significantly reduced.

This bulletin describes the manpower policies and experiences of several 

telephone com panies in cushioning the im pact of technological change on their e m ­

ployees. This account of the benefits and problem s of manpower planning by these 

com panies should have value for others who are planning to introduce m ajor changes 

in their own offices or plants.

This bulletin is one in a se rie s of case studies of m anpower planning for 

technological change. Other studies co v e r the ex p erien ces of a governm ent agency 

and an electric power company.

This study is based on information collected through interviews with company 

officials and officers of the em p loyees’ union, and on documents and data from c o m ­

pany files. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is deeply grateful for their assistance 

and cooperation.

Data were collected for this study by Richard Riche and H erbert Hammerman, 

and the report was written by Audrey Freedm an, under the supervision of Edgar 

Weinberg, Chief, Division of Technological Studies. These studies are part of the 

Bureau’ s r e s e a r c h p rog ram on productivity, technology, and growth, under the 

general direction of Jerome A. Mark, Assistant Com m issioner.

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Table of Contents

Page

Chapter I. In tro d u ctio n ................................................................................................................ 1

Chapter II. Summary and h i g h l i g h t s ...................... ... ...................................................... 3

Chapter III. Manpower and telephone tech n ology ................... ...................................... 5

Em ploym ent in the industry .......................................................................................... 5

Collective bargaining ............................................................... 5

T ech n ological changes affecting operators . ............................. ............................ 5

Manpower outlook ..... ............................................................................................... 6

Chapter IV. Manpower planning policy. ................................................................... ... 7

Advance planning................................................................................................................... 7

Estimate of work force req u irem en ts ............................................... 8

Advance notice and co n s u lta tio n ................................................................................. 8

Application of a t tr itio n ...................................................................................................... 9

T ran sfers and r e a s s ig n m e n t .......................................................................................... 9

R etirem ent p r o g r a m s ......................................................................................................... 10

Severance p a y ......................................................................................................................... 10

A ssistan ce in finding a job outside the telephone in d u s t r y ............................. 11

Training and r e t r a i n i n g ................................................................................................... 11

Rehiring r i g h t s ...................................................................................................................... 11

Chapter V. Manpower planning in operation: Four case s tu d ie s ................... ... . 13

Technical preparations and manpower planning................................................... 13

Advance n o t i c e ...................................................................................................................... 14

Union-m anagem ent n e g o tia tio n s ................................................................................... 14

E m ployee i n t e r v i e w s ......................................................................................................... 18

Use of attrition ............... 18

T r a n s f e r s ................................................................................................................................ 19

Layoff and severance p a y ............................ 20

Company help in finding other j o b s ............................................................................. 21

R etra in in g ............... 21

Upgrading and dow ngrading ............................... 21

Older w orker a d ju s t m e n t ................................................................................................ 21

Appendixes:

A. Union contract provisions at office B ................................... 23

B. Selected bibliography on adjusting to technological c h a n g e ................... 33

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Chapter I. Introduction

In its consideration of the benefits and

problems of automation and other technological changes, the President’ s AdvisoryCommittee on Labor-Management Policy,

a tripartite group of labor, management,

and public leaders, unanimously agreed on

three general points in 1962: “First, automation and technological progress are essential to the gneral wefare, the economic

strength, and the defense of the Nation.

Second, this progress can and must be

achieved without the sacrifice of human

values and without inequitable cost in terms

of individual interests. Third, the achievement of maximum technological development with adequate safeguards against economic injury to individuals depends upon a

combination of private and governmental

action consonant with the principles of a

free society.”1J

Specifically, the Advisory Committee

recommended, among other measures, that

serious consideration be given to “acceptance by management of responsibility for

taking measures, to the maximum extent

practicable, for lessening the impact of

technological change, including (a) adequate

leadtime, (b) open reporting to the employees involved, (c) cooperation with repre sentatives of the employees to meet the

problems involved, (d) cooperation withpublic employment services, (e) the timing of

changes, to the extent possible, so that

potential unemployment will be cushioned

by expected expansion of operations and normal attrition in the work force (through

\J The Benefits and Problems Incident to

Automation and Other Technological Ad- *1

cances, President’ s Advisory Committee on

Labor-Management Policy, January 11,1962,

11 pp.

Excerpts from this report appear in the

Monthly Labor Review, February 1962,

pp. 139-144.

separations re suiting from retirement,

quits, and so forth).” The Committee also

recommended that “ private employers and

unions faced with automation or technological changes should make every reasonable effort to enable workers who are being

displaced, and who need to be retrained, to

qualify for new jobs available with the same

employer and to enjoy a means of support

while so engaged.”

Following this report, the President’ s

Committee sponsored several meetings of

management and labor representatives to

discuss the benefits and problems of private

adjustment methods. In a summary of the

major conclusions of the discus sions, it was

stated: “Diversity is the key to any consideration of private adjustment techniques...

the private adjustments utilized in any

situation are heavily dependent upon the size

of the firm, the size of the union, the extent

of the organization of the industry or the

nature of the labor market. Also, adjustment

methods are dependent upon the kind of economic processes that are contributing to the

changes that cause displacement as well as

the economic health of the industry. Finally,

different approaches must be developed to

meet the specific demands of the labor force

in terms of age, sex, skill level, basic education geographic location, etc.”_2/

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has made

case studies in several different industries

which describe experiences with manpower

planning that follow the Committee’ s general

guidelines. Additional studies have been recommended by students of labor in the United

States and international bodies such as the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development. In 1966, the National Commission on Technology, Automation and

2 / Seminars on Private Adjustments to

Automation and Technological Change, MayJune 1 964, President’ s Advisory Committee

on Labor-Management Policy, p. A-4.

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Economic Progress stated “Because of the

dearth of available information, we suggest

that the Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce systematically investigate and report publicly on successful

private adjustment programs d< 'eloped

through either collective bargaining or the

unilateral efforts of management. This

would not only add to the present store of

general knowledge about the adequacy of

adjustment coverage, but would alsopermit

more extensive communication about effective adjustment programs among and between employers, employees, and unions.”3 /

_3/ Technology and the American Economy, Report of the National Commission

on Technology, Automation, and Economic

Progress, Vol. I, February 1966, p. 60.

This report de scribes the manpower planning policies of several companie s within the

Bell Telephone System and the operation

and results of these policies in several cases

of conversion from manual to long distance

dial ttl< phone systems. The companies were

selected because they had made deliberate

efforts to plan the orderly adjustment of

employees.

This bulletin was based on case studies

and union contracts records and documents

presenting company policies in dial conversions. F our conversions in three states were

surveyed: one located in a large city, and

three in small towns. Officials of the companies, and unions representing the employees, were interviewed to supplement the

information obtained from records and

documents.

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Chapter II. Summary and Highlights

Over many decades, changing technology

has been a major characteristic of the telephone industry. To facilitate the orderly

introduction of changes affecting operators,

the major telephone companies developed

a systematic program to minimize pos sible

adverse affects on employees.

Nature of the Change

Technological change in the four case

studies involved the introduction of fully

automatic telephone switching equipment,

for both long distance and local calls, which

drastically reduced the need for local manual telephone operators. All of these employees were women. Engineering and installation of the equipment required several

years of advance planning. This long leadtime afforded opportunities for manpower

planning, retraining, and application of various adjustment teclmiques.

Manpower Planning

A formal systemwide policy on manpower

planning in dial conversions had existed for

several decades prior to the changes. Fairly

detailed guidelines for coordinating technical and manpower changes were set forth

In a comprehensive policy document. The

objectives of manpower planning were: to

retain as many employees as possible, to

provide “suitable” transfer, to avoid downgrading employees, and to avoid a surplus

work force. In practice, local management

adapted the general policy guidelines to fit

the particular circumstance s of the individual town or office.

A major feature in planning these cases

was the development, in advance, of estimates of the number of operator s who would

be needed after the change, and the number

of operators for whom some adjustments

would be necessary (retirement, transfer,

etc.). These estimates were periodically

revised as conditions changed. A second

major feature was the ability of each office

in the study to broaden the scope of its

manpower planning to take account of opportunities in other departments and in

nearby offices and towns to which displaced

employees could transfer.

Advance Notice

The unions and employees were notified

many months before the change was scheduled to take place. Employees were informed about transfer and training opportunities,

and the number of employees who would continue as operators, several months before

the conversion. Personal interviews were

then held to inform each employee of

options available to her, and to motivate her

to plan her own future and determine her

choice.

Union-Management Negotiations

Union contracts, in the case study companies, provide for early notice to the union

and negotiation of force reduction moves.

Union-management meetings held during the

preconversion period provided a means for

direct communication between employees

and management about the change and the

employees affected. They also led to discussions of alternative plans for layoffs or part

timing. In most cases, the unions were concerned with enforcing the role of seniority

in all manpower adjustment measures.

Use of Attrition and Controlled Hiring

In order to reduce employment through

attrition, the companies instituted strict

control over hiring at an early date. Hiring

of permanent employees ceased 1 year or

more before conversion. As losses from

quits and retirements reduced the regular

work force, temporary employees were

hired; overtime was scheduled; and vaca3

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tions, retirements, and leaves of absence

were postponed in order to maintain the

level of available man-hours without hiring

regular employees. Despite these efforts to

retain all employees and a relatively high

rate of voluntary turnover among women

workers, it was necessary for some employees to transfer or be laid off in each of

the offices studied.

Transfer and Reassignment

Transfer to other offices were offered to

all regular employees who would not have a

job after cutover. Employees who transferred maintained their seniority for purposes of job security and pension and other

benefit rights, including vacation length. The

transfers were arranged, in most cases, to

offices with the same or a higher wage rate.

In one case study, both management and the

union were concerned that the transfer of a

large number of employee s, who had a decade

or more of seniority, would adversely affect

the choice of shift and vacation dates of employees in the receiving offices.

Layoff, Severance Pay, and Rehiring Rights

Because family responsibilities precluded transferring to telephone openings in

other towns, some women accepted layoff

with severance pay, the only other option

open to them. Severance benefits were paid

to nearly all of the regular employees who

could not transfer. In accordance with the

understanding made at the time of hiring,

none of the temporary employees who were

laid off received severance pay. Contracts

covering three of the case study offices

provided that regular employees on layoff

for less than a year should receive preference, in order of seniority, if additional

hiring should take place in jobs for which

they qualify. Some laid-off operators were

rehired under this provision, as business

increased and/or turnover created

vacancies.

Training and Retraining

The manual telephone operators who were

displaced by new equipment were most

easily retrained to long distance, information, or intercept operating. All were offered

this retraining, and all but a few were able

to learn the new procedures. Some retraining was also given in clerical jobs in other

departments but none for outside jobs.

Older Workers

Individual interviews and advance notice

were particularly helpful to older employees, by allowing sufficient time for individual adjustment to occur. Training, also, was

flexible enough to permit the older worker

to learn more slowly, or to take less demanding intercept positions. Since severance pay was based on length of service,

older workers who could not retire were

given a relatively large lump sum at layoff.

This proved important to the older worker

who was unable to relocate.

Coordination With Public Agencies

Although, in one case, the company attempted to obtain jobs in another plant for

some employees who were laid off, none of

the case study offices notified or worked

with public agencies in advance or during

the changeover. The offices acted to minimize employee adjustment problems

through internal planning, but their greatly

reduced operator requirements reduced

openings in each community for young, unskilled, female high school graduates. To

this extent, the problems of vocational

guidance, placement counseling, and job

creation were increased for public agencies

in these communities.

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Chapter III. Manpower and Telephone Technology

This chapter describes the telephone industry, its work force, and the types of

technological change which affect telephone

operators. It presents the background from

which the manpower policy (described in

Chapter IV) has been developed.

Employment in the Industry

The telephone communication industry

employed over 800,000 persons in mid 1967,

making it one of the largest industries in the

Nation. Although employment has increased

since 1964, the trend in employment between

1957 and 1963 was downward. Future prospects are for a stable or slightly rising

level of employment over the next decade.

Employment in a typical company may be

classified into five broad groups: About 40

percent are employed in the Plant Department, which installs and maintains wire,

cable, telephones, and maintains central

office equipment; one-third are in the Traffic Department, which provides service to

customers placing calls; one-tenth are in the

Commercial Department, which handles

sales and collections; less than one-tenthare

in the Accounting Department; and about

one-tenth are in the managerial and professional group.

Women constitute over half of the work

force. They are concentrated in the Traffic

Department and in clerical jobs in Plant,

Commercial, and Accounting Departments.

The Traffic Department hires young girls

mostly from high school, trains them as

operators, and promotes some to service

assistant, assistant chief operator, and

chief operator. Turnover is high among

telephone operators, particularly in the first

2 years of service. After the second year of

service, the proportion of women who remain in the company for very long periods

rises sharply.

Today, telephone operators make up close

to 200,000 employees or about 28 percent of

the industry’ s work force. About two-thirds

handle toll calls exclusively; about a fifth

provide information on all type s of calls; and

the rest handle intercept calls (wrong number, number changed, etc.) and other types of

special services.

Collective Bargaining

Most of the workers in the industry are

covered by collective bargaining agreements, negotiated company by company.

Although there are about 2,500 operating

companies in the industry, about 85 percent

of all employees work for the BellSystemof

23 companies, each of which provides service to one State or more. The leading union

is the Communications Workers of America,

AFL-CIO, which encompasses all crafts and

departments and represents a majority of

nonsupervisory workers in the industry.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers, AFL-CIO, represents selected

departments in some companies. A large

number of independent unions typically repre sent one department in one company.

Some have formed federations or alliances.

Union locals may be organized along departmental dines, i.e., separate plant, traffic, commercial, and accounting locals in

each town. In some companies, all workers

in one town may belong to the same local.

Contract provisions about wage rates,

call-in pay, night-work differentials, termination pay, and holidays vary among companies. The noncontributory retirement and

disability plan, however, is the same

throughout the Bell System.

Technological Changes Affecting Operators

The telephone industry has undergone

several major technological changes in over

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75 years of its history. These changes have

emerged from extensive research and development programs and long-term technical planning that are characteristic of the

industry. Rapid expansion of service also

has taken place; between 1920 and 1966, the

number of telephones operated by the largest

system increased tenfold, the number of

calls increased ninefold.

One of the first major changes was local

dial conversion. First introduced in the

1920’ s, dial conversions were made gradually, central office by central office. By

1930, nearly a third of all Bell telephones

were equipped for local dialing; by 1940,

about 60 percent were dial. At the present

time, virtually all United States telephones

are dial.

As operator handling of local calls was

eliminated, a series of changes also reduced the amount of operator time required

for long distance toll service. First, during

the late 1940’ s toll operators began to dial

the long-distance telephones rather than

make connections manually connecting with

numerous other long-distance operators and

tieing together a route to the distant city.

Because of operator long-distance dialing,

the originating operator could handle the

call more quickly. For many calls (depending upon the route and traffic conditions),

the assistance of other operators along the

call’ s route was eliminated.

The second innovation, in toll call handling, “mark-sensing,” not only saved operator time, but also saved clerical manhours in the Traffic and Accounting Departments. The toll operator rapidly marked

punch cards (to indicate calling number and

called number) rather than prepare a timeconsuming, handwritten record. Clerical

time was saved because the marked card

could be machine-read (“sensed”) and tabulated. Mark-sensing required the retraining of tens-of-thousands of toll operators.

The third toll innovation, automatic customer distance dialing eliminated all operator handling on dialable station-to-station

calls. Because the great bulk of all telephone

calls--distant as well as local--were being

made without any operator assistance, some

special services--person-to-person, credit

card, and collect calls, information and

intercept--still require human intervention.

For each of these types of calls, operator

man-hours are being reduced by installation,

of semiautomatic, sometimes computerassisted, equipment. All of the changes in

operating methods drastically reduced manhours per call but made no change in the industry’ s practice of hiring untrained women.

Manpower Outlook

In the future, very rapid expansion is expected in data transmission utilizing telephone company facilities. Overseas and

domestic toll calls will grow rapidly, as will

special services to business users.

The relative proportion of telephone

operators in the industry’ s employment will

probably continue to decline over the next

decade. Local- and long-distance dialing

have already reduced the proportion of operators from over half of total telephone

employment in 1945 to 28 percent in 1966.

By 1975, operators may constitute a little

over one-fifth of total employment. Although

employment will also be lower, the industry

will need to hire many women to replace

operators who quit or retire and, in some

areas, to meet growing demand for services.

By 1975, most telephone operators will

be working at new, desklike equipment which

switches all calls automatically. With the

aid of special purpose computers, the operator will handle person-to-person, credit

card, collect, third-number charge, paystation, and time-and-charges calls with

only momentary intervention. Moreover,

information operating and intercept calls

may be totally or partially computerized.

In summary, the telephone industry has a

long history of planned technological change,

with each development preparing the way for

the next. The problems of human adjustment

and manpower planning for these innovations

are discussed in the following chapters.

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Chapter IV. Manpower Planning Policy

Although dial conversion of the entire

telephone system was “gradual,” spanning

several decades, the change in any one town

or exchange was fairly abrupt. Technical

preparations are extensive and prolonged.

However, the moment its telephone system

begins operating automatically, a whole

town’ s requirements for operators might be

reduced from several hundred to a few

dozen. Some offices built exclusively for

local manual operations might be shutdown

permanently at the cutover hour.

To cope with the human problems of this

extensive changeover, companies comprising the Bell Telephone System developed at

an early stage a detailed statement of manpower policy which provided for close coordination of personnel with technical planning

in all cases of dial conversion. The objectives of this manpower planning policy are

set forth in the system’ s manual describing

the procedures to be followed by local

offices, as follows:

1. “To retain as many as possible of those

who wish to continue to work.

2. “To place in suitable positions those

whom it is necessary to transfer.

3. “To avoid reducing in rank any regularly appointed nonmanagement employee with a title above that of

operator.

4. “To avoid a surplus after the cutover.”

This policy has been applied in thousands of

conversions over the past several decades in

all parts of the country. Although some of it

has been modified by union contract provisions relating to seniority rights and layoffs,

it remains substantially intact. This chapter

presents a generalized version of the policy

and program. The next chapter describes

how it was carried out in four specific cases

of dial conversion during the late 1950’ s

and early 1960’ s.

Advance Planning

Planning for the change involved both

technical and personnel phases. Technical

preparations for dial conversions require

about 3 or 4 years of complex engineering

work, from the decision to install the dial

system to the moment of cutover, when all

calls are routed through the dial system.

Switching equipment for automatic dial

offices must be planned, engineered, manufactured, and (until recently) installed on a

custom basis. Current and future communications needs of the community must be

surveyed, decisions made with the equipment manufacturer about type of equipment

to be used, and tentative installation schedules established. These technological and

organizational necessities create a long

leadtime which the operating company can

use to plan its manpower adjustment steps.

The specific circumstances of each cutover influences the particular emphasis to

be followed in planning manpower policy. If

the conversion affects only one office of a

large city, the emphasis of planning is on

transferring employees elsewhere within

the city. There is a wider choice of jobs in

other departments available to employees

who must leave the operating force. If the

cutover is in a small, single-office city (or

encompasses many exchanges in a larger

city), fewer local opportunities are available and wider transfer areas must be

considered.

Timing of the conversion is also critical.

A cutover scheduled just before the busy

season (usually June through September)

will leave fewer redundant workers immediately after the cutover because of the

seasonally heavy traffic load. Other special circumstances which planner s must take

into account are: the age distribution of

employees; nearness to other towns (and

their operator surplus or shortage status);

the union contract clauses which deal with

seniority; and layoff and transfer actions.

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Estimate of Work Force Requirements

Planners need basic information about

total traffic man-hour s required before cutover, immediately after cutover, and for

several months thereafter, so that normal

operations can continue while personnel

changes take place. Operator man-hour requirements are calculated by dividing the

expected volume of calls which require

operator attention by average operator time

per call. This figure is estimated long before

cutover and covers the precutover period

plus several months thereafter. It is adjusted if new information indicates a change

in circumstances.

The calculations are complicated by such

elements as peak periods, lower average

operator speeds with a predominantly inexperienced work force (or the converse), and

estimates about call volume which extend 2

or 3 years into the future. Suchforecasts are

developed from company information concerning community growth and are updated

regularly at management forecasting conferences attended by all departments of the

operating company. Changes in traffic volume, changes in work per call, and changes

in the installation schedule may require

review of the entire work force estimate.

The program is usually reviewed at 3-month

intervals until a year before the cutover.

During the last year, the plan is usually

reviewed monthly.

The estimated operator man-hour requirements after cutover are subtracted

from the precutover requirements. After an

adjustment for hours consumed by vacations, leaves of absence, and training time,

this yields an estimate of the number of

operators who will no longer be needed in

this office after conversion.

Next, the company estimates normal attrition in the work force (by applying the

office’ s turnover rate to the current operator totals). If this attrition, over the 1 or

2 year preconversion period, will reduce the

current work force to the e stimated postcutover requirements, the company knows that

layoff of the specific operator s then working

may not be necessary. It will then stop hiring

“regular* employees. From this point on,

the employees who leave through normal

attrition are replaced with temporary or

term employees, who are told that their jobs

will probably not extend beyond the cutover

date. The company often recruits former

operators for these temporary positions in

order to avoid training an inexperienced new

employee who would be on the job for only a

year or less.

Despite planned reduction by attrition, a

number of regular employees may not be

needed after cutover because automatic

dialing reduces operator requirements so

drastically. Using the same methods as

above, the company can calculate in advance

how many of these regular employees would

no longer be needed in the office; and, moving

down the seniority roster, the company can

then identify these operators. Thus, a year

or two in advance of the cutover, the company knows, relatively accurately, who will

be required to transfer or retrain. It is then

in a position to plan transfer actions, schedule training, and develop other means of

retaining workers who want to continue

working in the industry.

Advance Notice and Consultation

When the company has developed its estimates to this point--where the seniority date

for retention in the office is known--it informs the union and the employees. The

union is informed in advance of employees

and public, “so that there will be no m isunderstanding and so that questions or discussions among the employees, if taken to

the union, may be given answers in accordance with the facts.” (From company policy

document.) The company may give the union

its estimate of work force to be retained--

which also indicates the required seniority

for an employee to be sure that she will be

retained. The company also may describe its

planned adjustment steps with the union at

this time, usually 1 or 2 years before conversion. Conferences with the union may

continue with regularity throughout the

period prior to cutover.

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The collective bargaining agreement in

some companies provided for a 30-day

period (from the date of notification of the

decision to install new equipment) to negotiate any special arrangement for manpower

changes which departs from the written contract provisions. If special procedures are

not negotiated during this period, the general

c ontract provisions usually require that layoffs be made in inverse order of seniority

within the Bell Systems.

The employees are notified immediately

after the union, and given the same information about the change. They are told how

much seniority will be required to remain

in the office (if this estimate has been

developed). This serves to help the less

senior operators to plan for possible

transfer.

Later, a management official holds individual conferences with each employee to

determine her wishes as to retirement,

retraining, transfer, and other options

available in this office’ s plan. This information, together with data on work experience,

seniority, and other personnel information,

is used in planning the adjustments necessary to assure individual placement after

conversion. The company policy manual

states:

“it is well to keep in mind in this connection, that in addition to the effect on the

general employment situation, it' is better

from a service and cost standpoint to retain

in the System experienced employees for

whom a considerable investment for training

has already been made, than to engage and

train new people in some places while laying

off experienced employees in others.”

Application of Attrition *1

A variety of methods is used to avoid

adding permanent employees to the work

force during the period immediately prior

to conversion and to maximize the effect

of attrition after the cutover. These are:

1. Postponing retirements, v a c a t i o n s,

and leaves of absence*

2. Postponing some training.

3. Postponing other company activity

which can be performed later.

4. Reducing work time per call.

5. Borrowing operators from other

office s.

6. Curtailing absences.

7. Scheduling regular overtime tours of

duty.

8. Hiring temporary or term employees.

These measures result in temporarily

increasing the number of man-hours available for operations, without hiring additional

permanent employees. The artificial

stretching of man-hours involved in the

first method results in a spurt of retirements, vacations, and leaves of absence

among regular employees immediately after

cutover. Deferred training is undertaken

now, overtime is stopped, borrowed employees are returned, and postponed misscellaneous projects are begun. All of these

measures reduce available operator manhours after conversion, thus permitting

some regular employees to be retained who

might otherwise have been laid off. In effect,

the man-hours that were “artificially” expanded just prior to conversion are now

contracted suddenly, in order to retain as

many permanent employees as possible.

Transfers and Reassignment

A frequently-used method of retaining

employees is to transfer them to other

offices in the same city, or to other departments, or to other cities. The system tries

to preserve its investment in training

(several hundred dollars per operator) by

using experienced employees, wherever

possible, to fill operator vacancies. Opportunity for transfer is particularly good in a

steadily growing system which employs

nearly 200,000 operators; has offices in

most of the cities, suburbs, and small towns

of the United States; and has a turnover rate

which generates many thousands of new

vacancies each year. Transfers are not

prevented by union barriers between craft

or departmental lines.

An effort is made to create local transfer

possibilities in advance of cutover. Traffic

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ees may be reassigned include information,

intercept, and toll operator positions, either

within the same office or in another exchange. Where other central offices are

within the same commuting area as the

affected office, the man-hour “stretching”

procedures described on page 9 may be

applied to another office in order to create

openings for incoming transfers at cutover.

This procedure would be most likely when

one exchange, in a city of several exchanges,

is switched to dial.

Seniority, qualifications, home address,

and transportation availability are all considered in determining who should be transferred. Transfers to nonoperator jobs (such

as clerk) in the traffic and other departments

also may be made. Other departments may

become part of the manpower plan. They

also may be asked to lower their age

requirements in order to accept the operators for training. Operators may consider

such transfers as advantageous because they

may carry a better work schedule or higher

wage rates.

The company’ s policy may involve arranging transfers to distant cities for employees for whom no local positions can be

found. This is particularly necessary when

a whole town is converted to dial at one time.

Such transfers are usually arranged far in

advance of the conversion.

If the number of surplus employees in

the town to be cut over is expected to be

large, the statewide operating company may

institute a work force planning program in

one or more distant cities in order to create

vacancies into which surplus operators can

transfer. The distant office selected for intransferring will also postpone vacations,

leaves of absence, and retirements until the

cutover date. It may even hire temporary

employees. At cutover, this distant office

will then have vacancies for the incoming

transferee s.

It appears, from the pattern of transfer

offers in the case studies, that the system

usually offers transfers into jobs and into

areas where the new wage rate will be about

the same as the operator’ s present wage.

The policy document does not suggest that

transportation or moving expenses be paid.

Employees who transfer within the system generally retain their system seniority

for purposes of job security (layoff order),

relative pay level, pension and sickness

benefits, and length of vacation. Seniority

for choice of shift and choice of vacation

may be suspended until the next regular

rescheduling, so that the incoming transferee does not bump numerous other employees from their regular shift and their

planned vacation. Shift choice is important

to an operator because some tours of duty

occur during evening and night hours and

on weekends.

Retirement Programs

Older employees are encouraged to retire after the cutover, if they are eligible

for pensions. Precutover interviews, in

which various alternatives are offered, include a discussion of retirement benefits

with the employees whose age and service

were sufficient to qualify.

Pensions are available to all system employee s on the same basis and are not ve sted.

They are granted automatically to women

employees at age 65 if they have 15 years of

system service; or at ages 55 to 65 upon

employee’ s request, if they have 20 years of

service. At the discretion of the management-operated Employees’ Benefit Committee, pensions may be granted to women

with 25 years of service if they have reached

the age of 50, or with 30 years of service at

any age. Monthly pension payments are 1

percent of the employee’ s average pay

during his last 5 years of service, multiplied by total years of service. When the

retiree is eligible for social security, an

amount equal to one-quarter of the social

security benefit is deducted from the system,

pension payment.

Severance Pay

If a regular employee is unable to transfer and is laid off and is not eligible for a

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pension, she may be given severance pay.

Severance pay and pension benefits cannot

both be collected. Severance pay provisions

are common in the communications industry

(telephone and telegraph).4/ Of the 81

“major” agreements (those which cover

1,000 workers or more) in the industry, all

but 5 specifically provide some type of

severance payment. In contrast, in the electric and gas utility industry, only 21 of the

86 major agreements provide severance or

layoff benefits. In the telephone industry,

payment amounts depend on the worker’ s

weekly wage, multiplied by a length of

service factor. All but two of the agreements

in this industry have a minimum service

requirement, usually between 6 months and

1 year.

One system contract states:

“Each regular employee laid off as a

result of force surplus, other than employees who are offered and refuse employment in a related or reasonably

equivalent occupation and within reasonable commuting distance of their then

place of employment, will be paid a layoff

allowance.”

If the operating company has been able to

carry out all aspects of its manpower plan,

and has been hiring temporary or term employees to fill vacancies over the last year

or more before the cutover, the number of

termination payments which must be made

may be quite small.

Assistance in Finding a Job Outside

the Telephone Industry

The system policy document provides

that any office that must layoff employees

should take steps to help surplus operators

find jobs in other industries “because of

possible hardship, possible unfavorable

public reaction, and possible impairment of

4 / Severance Pay and Layoff Benefit

Plans, Bulletin No. 1425-2, Bureau of Labor *1

Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, March

1 965.

the company’ s reputation as an employer.”

It also recommends that the operating

company contact “other likely employers

(especially those who have private branch

exchange switchboards) either directly or

through the Chamber of Commerce.” If any

job openings are located, the company informs operators who were looking for work

directly. The company policy also states:

“Granting employees time off to seek other

positions may be considered.” No explicit

mention is made about contacting the State

Employment Service as a mean of assisting

employees to find jobs.

Training and Retraining

In a typical dial conversion, the operators

who are no longer needed are those skilled

only in local switchboard operations. Since

these employees are already familiar with

basic operating practice and the general

functioning of switchboards, they are more

easily retrained to operate toll boards or to

handle information or intercept positions

than any other position in the company.

Since toll service accounts for most of

the operator positions, it provides most of

the openings available to transferees. Toll

operating is the most complicated operator

position, requiring the operator to respond

to a wider variety of requests and service

conditions. Therefore, toll training generally requires 3 weeks; information training

takes 1 week; intercept training a few days.

Highly developed training programs exist

for nearly all jobs in the system, even at the

nonmanagement supervisory level. Therefore, retraining can be accomplished relatively smoothly by assigning a surplus

operator to any one of a number of courses

already being given in many departments

and occupations. This policy enables some

operators to remain at work without relocating to another town.

Rehiring Rights

Union contracts often provide that laid off

employees are to be rehired in inverse order

of seniority before new employees can be

hired. The rehiring rights may be limited

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to employees who have been laid off for less

than 1 or 2 years and are qualified for the

type of job which is being filled. Payment

of severance benefits does not affect recall

rights. Employees on layoff keep the company informed of their address so that they

may be contacted when hiring takes place.

If they are recalled in fewer weeks than the

number paid for by a separation allowance,

employees repay the difference between the

allowance and their wage rate for the period

laid off.

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Chapter V. Manpower Planning in Operation: Four Case Studies

The case studies presented in this chapter

describe the application of the general

policy of the Bell System in four instances

of conversion from manual equipment toautomatic dialing for local and long-distance

service combined. These dial conversions

were unusual in the industry’ s technological

history, since most exchanges had been converted to local dial many years before longdistance dialing was installed. Thus, three

of the case studies represented an extreme

telescoping of change for the type of small

town affected. The fourth case study was a

c onversion of one manual exchange in a large

city where all other exchanges had already

been converted to dial.

The long-distance dial equipment installed was the most advanced type inuse at

the time of the case studies. It contained

automatic number identification equipment,

which permits dialed toll calls to go through

without the operator’ s intervention to determine the calling number.

Labor requirements were reduced drastically: In office A, by 40 percent; office B,

by 47 percent; office C, by 85 percent; and

office D was closed down. The employees

directly affected were operators, service

assistants, assistant chief operators, and

chief operators. All of these employees were

women. Although this type of dial conversion

also affected some plant and accounting jobs,

such jobs were not studied.

Three of the offices affected (described in

text and tables as A, B, and C) were located

in towns of 40 to 50,000 in the Appalachian

region. Unemployment was relatively high,

ranging from 5 to 13 percent, during the

cutover period. The fourth office (D) was the

last manual central office in a large Eastern

city. Because of its size, the city had many

central offices to which employees could

be transferred.

The operators in two offices (B and C)

were represented by the Communications

Workers of America; in the other two offices

(A and D), by a statewide independent union.

All offices had been represented by the same

union for at least a decade prior to the

conversion.

The age distribution of employees varied

among the four offices; office B had the

youngest work force (about 75 percent had

less than 10 years of service), and office D,

the oldest (44 percent of the work force had

less than 10 years service). In fact, a

number of operators in office D had transferred to the office as manual operators

when other offices in that city had been

converted to dial. Table 1 indicates the

seniority level of employees in each office.

Table 1. Seniority of Affected Regular 

Employees at Time of Cutover

Years of

company service 

at cutover

Office A Office B Office C Office D

Percent distribution of affected employees

Total -------- 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

30 and o v e r ----- 5.5 6.2 5.4 19.1

25 - 29 ----------- 3.4 1.7 .8 4. 2

20 - 24 .............. 1.4 3.9 2.3 8.4

15 - 19 ----------- 9.7 1.1 11.5 9.6

10 - 14 ----------- 9.0 12.4 18.5 15. 1

5 - 9 --------------- 29.7 37.1 40.0 15. 7

Less than 5 ------- 41.4 37.6 21.5 28. 9

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items

may not equal 100.

SOURCE: Company records.

Technical Preparations and

Manpower Planning

In all four cases, advance planning of both

the technological and per sonnel adjustments

began several years before the cutover. In

office B, for example, planning began 2 years

in advance; in office C, 3 l/l years in

advance. In both of these offices, a specific

management official was put in full charge of

cutover arrangements, both personnel and

technical. The District Traffic Engineer was

in charge of office B’ s conversion. In office

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
C, a Traffic Supervisor was sent to the town

to plan and carry out all aspects of the

conversion.

The technical phases of planning involved

various time consuming preparatory activities related to purchasing and installing

equipment. Preparing the complex specifications for manufacture and assembly of

switching equipment in one community, for

example, required 5 man-years of engineering work by the equipment manufacturer.

Installation took 8 months. During this

period, the operating company had responsibility for training operators, instructing

customers, compiling and publishing a directory, arid making a great variety of

community arrangements to minimize customer confusion with the new dial system.

The manpower phases of this planning

involved forecasting in advance for employment requirements as described on

page 8. For example, 21 months before the

cutover, office C estimated turnover rates,

retirement rates, and work force needs

for each month over the next 2 years.

It also estimated work force needs after

conversion. These data were applied to total

employment to estimate the number of employees who would have to transfer or be

laid off. This estimate was revised periodically, to take account of changes in turnover

rates, call volume, new postcutover work

force estimates, and the re suits of employee

interviews concerning willingness to transfer. The estimate prepared 2 years before

cutover proved to be quite inaccurate,

chiefly because the necessary postcutover

force had been overestimated. The estimates prepared 8 months prior to cutover,

however, proved to be very close to the

actual result.

Advance Notice

Unions and employees were notified far

in advance of the change. In office A, the

union and employees were notified about 20

months prior to conversion. Aformalunionmanagement meeting was held just prior to

employee notification. In offices A and D,

meetings began a year prior to cutover; in

office C, 17 months prior to cutover. Office

B did not carry on formal consultation with

the union but notified the local of cutover

plans 2 year s prior to the date of conversion.

In all offices, the union contracts required

that the company notify the union of “an

occasion for the adoption of a program of

mass or general layoffs or part-timing (less

than a normal workweek) 1or both” for

regular employees. (The contract covering

office C does not include “part-timing” but

is otherwise the same.) All four contracts

provide that, within 30 days of such notice,

either (1) a special layoff or part-timing

arrangement shall have been negotiated, or

(2) contract provisions shall apply which

require that inverse order of seniority be

observed in layoffs. (See appendix A for

contracts in the case study offices.)

At the time of notification, planning in all

four offices had progressed to the point

where management was able to give the

union the approximate cutover date, some

indication of how many employees would be

retained, and transfer information. F or

example, in office D, management was able

to inform the union that all manual operator s

would be retrained for toll work, that they

would be transferred to other offices within

the city in advance of cutover (and be replaced by temporary workers), and that the

retraining and transfer program would begin

10 months before cutover. In office C, management indicated the seniority date of the

least senior employee who could be retained

in the office and explained how transfers

would be arranged.

Union-Management Negotiations

In office A, management proposed as an

alternative to the c ontract provision regarding layoffs, that the less senior half of the

regular employees be given part-timework

--about 2-1/2 days a week--that they also be

offered transfers, and that some special

temporary clerical projects be brought into

office A to occupy the surplus force immediately after cutover. The union counterproposed that the workday for all regular office

A operators should be cut 1 hour, at no cut

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in pay; that employees should be offered

expense-paid transfers anywhere in the

system, by seniority; and that pensions be

provided to all employees with 20 years

service. The union was firmly opposed to

part-timing, partly because it would reduce

the operators’ income while preventing them

from obtaining unemployment compensation. After three negotiating sessions, the

company agreed to pay transportation and

moving expenses to transferees. Since the

union was opposed to part-timing, the company withdrew this proposal and returned

to the contract’ s layoff procedure.

Union-management meetings in office D,

which was to be closed, dealt at length with

transfer provisions. All employees had to

transfer to other offices in the city. Management proposed that the choice of office

to which they would like to be transferred

not be offered in order of seniority. Instead,

management proposed that the seniority list

be split into four groups, and the limited

number of transfer openings in each office

be apportioned among the four groups. Within each group, choice would be made by

seniority. A result of this method would be

that the operator, for example, who was 41st

in order of seniority could have last choice

in transfer opportunities, while the operator

who was 42d on the seniority roster could

have first choice.

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CHART I

CHRONOLOGY OF UNION-MANAGEMENT UMEETINGS IN OFFICE C

About 20 months prior to cutover

Management informed union local that a

dial cutover was being planned. The contract procedure for work force surplus

was discussed. Management indicated

that an announcement would be made to

employee s.

16 months prior to cutover

Management informed union of estimated

office size after cutover, and explained

how it had estimated the seniority date of

the least senior operator to remain in

office C. (This estimate was revised at

a later meeting because turnover had been

underestimated slightly.)

Management informed union that each

operator would be interviewed next month

to determine whether or not she will want

a transfer to another exchange elsewhere

in the State.

In response to a union question, management said that it “would not use the cutover as a means of getting rid of

attendance problems, but attendance will

continue to be stressed.”

Union asked if senior operators could

bump junior employees in other departments. Management said no.

15 months prior to cutover

The union stated that temporary employees are unhappy with their constantly

changing work schedules. It wanted to

know how many could be reclassified as

regular, so that they could obtain a fixed

See footnote at end of chart.

working tour. Management agreed to find

out and inform the union.

The union asked for clarification of the

transfer procedure. Management said

that it would offer transfers in inverse

order of seniority, as close to cutover as

possible. Union and management reviewed results of the individual operator

interviews concerning their desire to

transfer and their choice of locations.

Managment agreed to pay a layoff allowance to a regular (not term or temporary)

employee who had accepted a transfer,

then later decided not to transfer. However, it would not pay a layoff allowance

to an employee who refused to transfer

to a toll job in the same town as office C.

Union asked that the layoffs be applicable

to all departments (to create jobs for

senior operators who would otherwise

have to move). Management refused.

9 months prior to cutover

Discussed position of employees with

enough seniority to remain in townC, but

who are on leave of absence at cutover.

Union indicated that it would mase sure

that seniority was strictly observed in

offering jobs to employee s returning from

such leaves. (A grievance later was filed

on this issue.)

Management indicated the wage grade

which operators and service assistants

would be offered if they were hired by

the Commercial Department.

Management said that if there were no

extenuating circumstances, an operator

could be required to work a 6-day week

“as a condition of continued employment. ”

(This scheduling was used to add manhours before cutover.)

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6 months prior to cutover

Management answered a union question

about employees below the seniority level

for retention. About five will be used for a

temporary plant job and may be needed

again later (by the time the temporary

project is completed) as operators.

Management told the union when vacations would begin (a month after cutover).

Vacations could be chosen for the following 6 months.

Management altered its earlier position

on operators who refuse transfer. If a

long-service employee (who could have

been retained in office C) accepted a

transfer, then later decided not to go, she

would not be given a layoff allowance.

Management answered a query about a

second layoff subsequent to cutover by

stating that this might be a possibility,

but that the company was considering

scheduling vacations to avoid layoffs.

This would help absorb the force during

this period in the expectation that traffic

growth and force turnover would nullify

the surplus. 1

1 / At early meetings, an international

union representative joined the officers of

the local. Management was usually represented by the District Traffic Manager,

Traffic Manager, and Chief Operator.

Source: Company minutes of meetings.

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The union proposed six groups, rather

than four groups, since it was concerned that

the relative position on the seniority roster

of operators in the offices receiving the

transferred employees would be lowered by

an influx of more senior employees from

office D. This would adversely affect the

receiving office operators’ choice of hours

and vacations. The company and union

agreed to proceed on the basis of six groups.

Chart I presents a chronological account

of meetings between labor and management

representatives at office C. These discussions began about 20 months prior to the

cutover and dealt with many of the personnel problems of the change.

Employee Interviews

Interviews were held with the employees

in offices B, C, and D to inform them of the

choice in transfers, training, or other adjustments. The interviewer was either the

management person in charge of the cutover

or one of his staff. This far-in-advance

notice and variety of choice were particularly helpful to women workers in preparing their family for the change. Women

are not expected to put job or career above

family convenience or preference, even if

they support the family (as was the case for

many of the women operators in these case

studies). The following notes made by a

personnel interviewer illustrate some of the

problems that arose:

“Husband is going to look for work (now

unemployed), and if he finds employment,

she will want a transfer to that city.

Otherwise will work until cutover.”

“Will accept transfer to P. City. Prefers

to go as close to cutover as possible,

since her son is in school and she wants

him to finish the year here. Divorced;

supports self and child.”

“Father will not permit her to transfer

anywhere. When she becomes 21 may

change her plans.”

10 months later:

“Has decided to transfer to Washington,

D. C .”

“Single; supports parents. Will talk to

family and let us know about transfer.

Mother’ s health not good.”

9 months later:

“Cannot transfer. Must take layoff.”

“Husband’ s job is not a good one as far

as wages. He is trying tofind a better job.

Car will not be paid for until 7 /6 1 .”

1 0 months later:

“Will transfer to W. City at cutover. Husband unemployed.”

Use of Attrition

In all offices, regular employees who left

during the year preceding the cutover were

replaced with temporary workers. In addition, in offices B, C, and D, transfers took

place during the few months prior to cutover,

and the vacancies thus produced were filled

with temporary workers. As a result of these

measures, temporary employees accounted

for over a third of the total operator force in

offices C and D, and nearly a fourth of the

operating force in office B by cutover time.

Overtime was used in all four case study

offices to add to operator man-hours.

Usually, operators were scheduled for a 6-

day week, rather than a longer day. Table 2

shows that about one-quarter of the total

man-hour s required to operate office B were

obtained through the use of temporary employees and overtime scheduling. The peak

in overtime at 11-12 months prior to conversion was due to a seasonal peak traffic.

The cutover was planned for 1 year later,

when another seasonal peak in traffic would

require extra operator man-hours, and

therefore would result in fewer layoffs

immediately after cutover.

Offices A, B, and C postponed vacations

until after the cutover (although two vacations each week were permitted in office A).

In office C, this measure added the manhours equivalent of five workers to the

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operating force during the 3 months prior

to conversion. Office C had estimated its

turnover during the year of conversion to be

35 percent; during the year preceding conversion, 20 percent. It began filling the vacancies created by this attrition with term

employees 2 years before cutover. One year

before cutover, vacancies were filled with

temporary workers.

Transfers

The company arranged to transfer some

operators to other offices in all four cases.

In offices A, B, and C, jobs in other towns,

mostly within the State, were available for

some employees; in office D, the jobs were

within the city. Nearly all of these moves

were to other types of traffic work (usually

toll, information, or intercept operating). In

all four cases taken together, only five employees were transferred into another

department in the same town.

The transfers to other cities and offices

did not all take place immediately at the

cutover. They were spread out over a period

of months preceding cutover, in order to lessen the training load on the receiving office.

Office C, for example, shifted 14 operators

to a single small town. After transfer, they

had to be trained for toll operations. Therefore, these transfers were spread out over

several months to prevent a sudden influx

of untrained operators into one office. Similarly, office D moved 132 operators to

other offices in the same city over a period

of several weeks. All of them had to be retrained for toll work. In both offices, as

regular operators moved, their positions

were covered either by hiring additional

temporary employees or by scheduling

overtime.

The system usually does not pay moving

or transportation costs to employees who

are required to transfer. In office A, however, transportation and some moving costs

were paid to the 11 employees who moved

to another town. Also, at the time office C

closed, the telephone company of a large

city a few hundred miles away was recruiting high school girls in office C’ s town

because of a serious operator shortage.

The company was paying transportation expenses to girls who moved to the city.

Therefore, when office C was cutover, the

same offer of transportation expenses was

Table 2. Office B: Anticipated Use of Regular and Temporary Employees and 

Overtime Prior to Cutover, by Selected Months

Months prior 

to cutover

Estimated

force

required

Estimated total 

number of 

employees 

available

Estimated fdrce composition Estimated overtime

Regular employees Temporary employees Equivalent 

employees 

represented 

by overtime

Percent 

of total 

Number force Percent of 

total required

Number Percent of 

total required

18 218 218 218 100 - - - -

12 208 190 185 89 5 2 18 9

11 218. 196 183 84 13 6 22 10

10 225 204 182 81 22 10 21 9

9 227 214 181 80 33 15 13 6

8 235 218 180 77 38 16 17 7

7 221 221 179 81 42 19 0 -

6 222 222 178 80 44 20 0 -

5 224 224 177 79 47 21 0 -

4 225 221 175 78 46 20 4 2

3 226 215 173 77 42 19 11 5

2 230 209 172 75 37 16 21 9

1 225 203 170 76 33 15 22 10

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal 100. 

SOURCE: Derived from company records.

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made to any operators in office C who

wanted to transfer to the city. In spite of

this offer and a higher operator wage scale,

only one of the displaced office C operators

took a job in the distant city.

Two offices in the same State created

openings for 26 operators of office C by

planning their hiring during the 3 months

prior to cutover. In office A, nonoperating

departments of the company (in the same

town) restricted hiring in certain occupations for 1 year preceding cutover. However,

these measures produced only one opening.

Table 3 shows the disposition of affected

employees in the four case studies near the

cutover date.

Layoff and Severance Pay

Estimates of the number of persons who

might be without jobs at the cutover dates

were made during the pre-cutover period.

In office C, these estimates were revised

every 6 months or so, taking into account

interview results, retirements, and turnover. The actual number laid off was higher

than the number estimated 21 months in

advance.

All regular employees were offered the

option of transferring in the four case

studies (although not always to the city of

their choice). Nevertheless, layoffs took

place because of the inability of some operators to move. Many of these regular employees had families and were homeowner s.

For these and other personal reasons,

transfers were rejected by 142 of the 222

regular employees who would be laid off

if they did not transfer. Twenty-eight of the

142 were able to retire because of their

length of service or the discretion of the

benefit committee. Eighteen took a leave of

absence. The remaining 96 operators who

could not transfer were laid off; all but 17

received layoff pay.

In office C, which had the largestnumber

of laid-off employees (39), layoff payments

ranged from $107 for an employee with 2 l/4

year’ s service to $1,001 for an employee

Table 3. Disposition of Affected Employees in Four Case Studies Near the Cutover Date

Employment status

Number of employees

Office A Office B Office C Office D

Total affected ---------------------- -------------------- 154 216 262 1 265

Regular employees, to ta l ------------------------------------ 126 158 157 165

Retained, to ta l --------------------------------------------- 103 142 86 148

Retained in department-------------------------------- 91 115 40 -

Transferred to another department------------------ 1 - 4 2

Transferred to another office in the 

same c it y ------------------- ---------------------------- _ _ _ 146

Transferred to another c ity --------------------------- 11 27 42 -

Not retained, to ta l----------------------------------------- 23 16 71 17

Leave of absence (may be temporary)------------- 3 - IS -

Retired----------------------------------------------------- 3 - 6 4

Resigned (no termination p ay)---------------------- - 3 11 13

Laid off (termination pay)---------------------------- 18 13 39 -

Term, temporary, and occasional employees, 

to ta l------------------- --------------------------------------------- 28 58 105

2

100

Retained, total (transferred to another c ity ) ---------- 1 5 (3) ( 3>

Not retained, total (laid off, no termination 

pay)------------- --------------------------------------------- 27 53 (3) ( 3)

1 An estimated 100 temporary employees included in total.

^ No exact data available; about 100 temporary employees were used. 

^ Information not available.

SOURCE: Company records and case study interviews.

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with 9 years service. The average severance benefit was about $350. (See table 4.)

These benefits were calculated on the basis

of wages paid in the early 1960’ s and do not

reflect current higher wage rates. In offices

A and C, about a third of these laid-off

regular employees were rehired within a

year or two after cutover, due to increased

business and turnover. Employees probably

were eligible for State unemployment insurance in addition to severance pay.

Table 4. Office C: Distribution of Separation Allowances

Range in amount of 

separation allowance

Number of employees 

receiving allowance

Total------------- ----------- 39

$700 and o v e r ------------------- 5

$600 - $699 ---------------------- 2

$500 - $599 ---------------------- 1

$400 - $499 -------------------— 1

$300 - $399 ---------------------- 8

$200 - $299 ---------------------- 7

$100 - $199---------------------- 15

Less than $100------------------- "

SOURCE: Derived from company records.

Company Help in Finding

Other Jobs

Only office C made contacts with other

firms. Here, five production-worker jobs

were located in a nearby manufacturing

plant. In no case did the operating companies

contact the State employment service.

Retraining

Nearly all retraining in the four cases

involved training operators to work toll

boards. A few were retrained for information and intercept work; only five were

trained for jobs in other departments. Toll

training took 3 weeks, in most cases, but

extra time was given to operators who had

difficulty learning toll board procedures.

In training, the operators sat at a regular

switchboard and handled a variety of simulated calls and signals. This type of training may have been less upsetting to older

experienced operators than classroom

instruction.

Upgrading and Downgrading

In nearly ail cases, transfers were

arranged to towns with the same wage scale

for operators; some transfers were to

larger cities with a higher wage scale. In

office B, most of the transfer openings which

were available for operator choice were in

towns with a wage rate between $0.50 and

$7.50 higher a week. In offices A and C,

most transfer openings were to towns with

the same operator wage scale. In office D,

operators shifted within the same town, so

their wage scale remained the same.

In office C, downgrading took place, primarily because the position “Service A ssistant” was no longer required after cutover.

Eleven Service Assistants and one Assistant

Chief Operator were downgraded to operator

positions, at lower pay rates. One Assistant

Chief Operator was moved to another department to prevent her being downgraded

to operator.

Older Worker Adjustment

In the case study situations, manual

operators who were unfamiliar with toll

practice had to be trained on this service for

the first time. Older operators who had

trouble adjusting to toll work were given

more time to learn or were trained for the

somewhat less rigorous intercept or information positions. Office C interview notes

illustrate the older worker’ s problems:

Operator 6 (54 years old. 31 years" service)

“Still wants to work on. Definitely would

not be interested in transfer. Has house

to finish paying for. Doesn’t want pension

while her health is good. Doe s not feel she

is as efficient as she should be on the toll

board. Apprehensive about toll training.

Afraid it may be difficult for her in the

new office.”

(This operator did remain at work and

did adjust to toll operating.)

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However, some of the resignations and

retirements in office D were due to inability

to learn toll work, even though extra training

time was given.

Several management steps were particularly helpful to older worker s. The advance

notice of change, which came 1 to 3 years

before cutover, gave older operators time to

adjust to the idea that they would have to

learn new skills. In addition, the training

course was adjusted, to some extent, to the

individual student’ s learning speed. Finally

the company benefit Committee appears to

have taken the cutover situation into account

and granted applications for early retirement to operators who felt that they could

not adapt to the new situation (see p. 10 for

early retirement terms).

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Article V - SenioritySection 1. It is agreed that work requirements, service conditions, and the

ability of the employee developed through previous training and experience in the

work involved as determined by Company are the controlling factors in the selection

of working tours and vacation periods. If such requirements do not operate to the

contrary:

(a) seniority based on net credited service shall govern the selection of vacation periods by all employees (other than Traffic central office operating

employees) within each working group in each office, and

(b) except as provided in Section 2 of this Article, seniority based on net credited service shall govern the selection by plant employees working in

central offices and Traffic central office operating employees of tours and

vacation periods within each working group in each central office unit; provided that in the case of Traffic Service Assistants, Traffic Service Observers, and Senior Central Office Clerks, seniority based on continuous

service, including time spent in management positions, since last appointment to this level, less periods of leaves of absence, shall govern prior to

October 4, 1953, and commencing October 4, 1953, all periods paid for of

one day or more in managment positions or within that particular job

classification. In the administration of this Section, it is understood that

no credit for previous service in any of these positions shall be given upon

reappointment if the employee, since, October 4, 1953, has (1) elected to

return to a lower rated position in the bargaining unit, or (2) been demoted

to a lower rated job in the bargaining unit for any cause other than force

surplus. An employee in one of these job classifications returning from a

leave of absence after the effective date of this Agreement shall receive

credit for all previously accumulated seniority upon reinstatement in the

position held before leave of absence began.

Section 2. Traffic central office operating employees who are transferred

from an office within Company’ s territory or from another Bell System Company

into a new location within Company’ s territory, and employees transferred from

other departments of Company into Traffic central office operating job classifications, shall be assigned whatever vacant tour remains on the schedule at the time of

transfer without depriving any present employee of the tour she then is entitled to.

As vacancies occur through resignation, promotions, transfers out, or other causes,

the employee shall step into such vacancies on the seniority list until she has attained

her proper place in the schedule in accordance with her seniority, but not later than

the starting date for the first selection of tours on the basic schedule after the employee transfers to the office involved.

Section 4. It is agreed that Traffic central office operating employees shall

normally be allowed to select working tours, generally not less than every 90 days

nor more than 120 days; provided, however, that such selections may be made more

or less frequently when Company determines that force and service conditions

require.

Appendix A. Union Contract Provisions at Office B.

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Article VII - General Layoffs and Part-Timing

Section 1. Whenever, in the judgment of Company, there exists an occasion

for the adoption of a program of mass or general layoffs or part-timing (less than

a normal work week) or both, of regular full-time and regular part-time nonsupervisory employees of Company, Company agrees before proceeding with such

program, in the following sequence, to:

(a) Lay off all occasional and temporary employees engaged within the job

classifications and exchanges affected in a sequence to be determined by

C ompany.

(b) Notify Union of its intention to introduce such program and negotiate with

Union in regard to the method or methods to be employed.

Section 2, Company shall determine the extent of the reductions required, the

effective date or dates thereof, the exchanges, and the job classifications involved.

Section 3. If an agreement as to the method or methods to be employed in introducing such program is not reached by Company and Union within thirty days

from the date of such meeting, Company may then proceed as hereinafter outlined.

Section 4. The order of layoff within job classifications and exchanges selected

shall be by length of service groups and in the sequence outlined below, provided

that all employees shall be laid off in the inverse order of their seniority:

(a) Employees with less than two years of net credited service.

(b) Employees with two or more but less than three years of not credited

service.

(c) Employees with three or more but less than four years of net credited

service.

(d) Each subsequent group after the third length of service group specified

above shall be composed of employees in each next successive year of net

credited service.

Section 5. Each regular employee with one or more years of net credited

service laid off under the provisions of Section 4 of this Article (including those laid

off in accordance with the terms of any further agreements reached with Union) shall

receive, in addition to any vacation payment to which he may be entitled, a layoff

allowance in accordance with the following:

Completed Net

Credited Service Weeks* Basic Pay 1

1 year........................................................................................................ 1

2 years..................................................................................................... 2

3 years..................................................................................................... 3

4 years..................................................................................................... 4

5 years............................................................................................... # 5

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5 years, 6 months............................................................................. 6

6 years..................................................................................................... 7

6 years, 6 months............................................................................. 8

7 y ea rs,.................................................................................................. 9

7 years, 6 months................................................................ 10

8 years........................................................................................................ 11

8 years, 6 months................................................................................ 12

9 years........................................................................................................ 13

9 years, 6 months....................... 14

10 years.......................................................................................................15

10 years, 4 months................................................................................ 16

10 years, 8 months................................................................................ 17

11 year ......................................................................................................18

11 years, 4 months............................................................................. 19

11 years, 8 months.................................................................... 20

12 years.................. 21

12 years, 4 months.............................................................. 22

12 years, 8 months................................................................................. 23

1 3 years.......................................................................................................24

13 years, 4 months................................................................................. 25

13 years, 8 months,............................................................................ 26

14 years. ......................................................................................................27

14 years, 4 months............................................................................. 28

14 years, 8 months..................... 29

1 5 years.......................................... 30

Note: For each completed four months of net credited service beyond 15 years, one

additional week’ s basic wages will be added to the above. In cases where an

employee has more than fifteen years of net credited service, Company may,

in its discretion, make payments in addition to those provided above; such

additional payments to be determined by Company on an individual basis.

It is understood that Company may in its discretion pay a layoff allowance in

any of the above situations in an amount greater than that provided for herein.

If an employee receives a layoff allowance and is subsequently reengaged by

Company, and the number of weeks since the date of his layoff is less than the

number of weeks’ basic pay received as a layoff allowance, the amount paid to the

employee for the excess number of weeks shall be refunded to Company through

payroll deductions in each payroll period at the rate of ten per cent of the employee’ s

basic weekly wage.

An employee reengaged and again laid off after having former service accredited shall be paid the difference between the amount of the layoff allowance computed

under the above schedule, and any former layoff payment which he may have received

as a result of the previous layoff and not refunded.

Section 6. The provisions of this Article shall not be construed to prevent

Company at any time from:

(a) Transferring employees from one job classification to another (either at

the same location or in another location) or transferring employees from

one location to another without change in job classification.

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(b) Making layoffs or part-timing in any job classification and exchange on

account of the normal fluctuations of the business because of minor readjustments of forces or because of changes inpractices, types of equipment,

or methods of operation.

(c) Engaging line construction or tree trimming crews on an independent contractor relationship or engaging any person on a temporary or occasional

basis.

(d) Making layoffs or part-timing within any job classification, working force,

or exchange because of reductions in work volumes or force requirements

caused directly or indirectly by conditions resulting from a labor dispute.

(e) Retaining necessary employees in those job classifications requiring

specialized pre-employment training.

Section 7. Section 5 of this Article shall also apply to regular full-time and

regular part-time employees in cases of individual layoffs because of lack of work.

# ^ ^ >;< *,<

Article X - Termination Allowances

Section 1. Termination allowances in amounts computed in accordance with

Section 3 of this Article will be paid to regular full-time employees having three

(3) or more years of net credited service whose service is terminated by Company

under any of the following conditions as determined by Company:

(a) Dismissed (except for misconduct) - employees having completed three

(3) or more years of net credited service at the time of dismissal.

(b) Retired at the age of 65 without a pension.

Section 2. Termination allowances will not be paid to employees who are dismissed for misconduct, resign, or receive a Company pension, or who otherwise

leave the service under conditions not specified in Section 1 of this Article.

Section 3. The amount of the termination allowances paid in accordance with

this Article will be computed as follows:

Completed Net

Credited Service Weeks' Basic Pay

3 years. .......................................................................................... 3

4 years........................................................................................................ 4

5 years........................................................................................................ 5

5 years, 6 months............................................................................ 6

6 years........................................................................................................ 7

6 years, 6 months............................................................................ 8

7 years.....................................................................................................’ . 9

7 years, 6 months........................................................................ .1 0

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8 years......................................................................................................

8 years, 6 months..................................................................................... 12

9 years..........................................................................................................13

9 years, 6 months....................................................................................14

I 0 years.......................................................................................................... 15

10 years, 4 months....................................................................................lo

10 years, 8 months..................................................................................... 17

II years.......................................................................................................... 18

11 years, 4 months..................................................................................... 19

11 years, 8 months..................................................................................... 20

1 2 years..........................................................................................................21

12 years, 4 months..................................................................................... 22

12 years, 8 months..................................................................................... 23

1 3 years..........................................................................................................24

13 years, 4 months..................................................................................... 25

13 years, 8 months....................................................................................26

1 4 years................................ 27

14 years, 4 months......................................................................................28

14 years, 8 months......................................................................................29

1 5 years..........................................................................................................30

Note: For each completed four months of net credited service beyond 15 years,

one additional week’ s basic wages will be added to the above.

An employee qualified to receive a termination allowance under this Article

who leaves the service before receiving a vacation which he is eligible to receive

at the time of his separation shall receive vacation pay in addition to the termination

allowance.

Company may in its discretion pay termination allowances in amounts greater

than those provided in this Section 3, such amounts to be determined by Company on

an individual basis.

Section 4. If an employee received a termination allowance and is subsequently

reengaged by Company, and the number of weeks since the date of his separation is

less than the number of weeks’ basis wages received by the employee as a termination allowance, the amount paid to the employee for the excess number of weeks shall

be refunded to Company through payroll deduction in each payroll period at the rate

of 1 0 percent of the employee’ s basic weekly wage.

An employee reengaged and again separated from the payroll after having

former service credited shall be paid the difference between the amount of the

termination allowance computed in accordance with the provisions of this Article

and any former termination allowance which he may have received as a result of a

previous separation and not refunded to Company.

Section 3. “Regular employees” are persons whose employment is reasonably

expected to be permanent at the time they are engaged although it may be terminated

subsequently by action on the part of the Company or the employee.

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Section 4. “Temporary employees,” as used in this agreement, shall be deemed

to mean those employees whose employment is intended to last more than three (3)

weeks but not more than one (1) year. Such employees shall be reclassified as

“regular employees” if their employment exceeds one (1) year of continuous service

since date of last engagement.

Section 6. The term “Traffic central office operating employees” shall be

deemed to mean Traffic operators and employee s engaged in the Traffic Department

as Service Assistants, Service Observers, Senior Central Office Clerks, and Central

Office Clerks.

Section 14. The term “net credited service” shall mean Bell System net

credited service as determined by Company and shown on Company’ s records.

Union Contract Provisions at Office C.

Article 25 - General Layoffs and Rehiring

Section 1. Whenever, in the judgment of the Company, there exists an occasion

for the adoption of a program of mass or general layoffs of regular full-time nonsupervisory employees of the Company, the Company agrees before proceeding with

such program to:

(a) In a sequence to be determined by the Company, lay off all occasional and

temporary employees and all regular employees with less than one (1)

year’ s net credited service engaged within the job classifications and

exchanges affected.

(b) Notify the Union of its intention to introduce such program and negotiate

with the Union in regard to the method or methods to be employed.

Section 2. The Company shall determine the extent of the reductions required,

the effective date or dates thereof, the exchanges, and the job classifications

involved.

Section 3. The Union agrees to meet with the Company and if an agreement as

to the method or methods to be employed in introducing such program is not reached

by the Company and the Union within thirty (30) days from the: date of notification

referred to in Section 1 (b), the Union agrees that the Company may then proceed

as hereinafter outlined in this Article.

Section 4. The order of layoff within any job classification and exchange

selected shall be by the length of service groups and in the sequence outlined below,

provided that all employees shall be laid off in the inverse order of their seniority.

(a) Employees with more than one (1) but less than two (2) years of net

credited service.

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(b) Each subsequent group shall be composed of employees in each next successive year of net credited service.

Section 5. Each regular full-time employee with one (1) or more years of net

credited service laid off under the provisions of Section 4 of this Article (including

those laid off in accordance with the terms of any further agreements reached with

the Union) shall receive, in addition to any vacation payment to which he may be

entitled, a layoff allowance in accordance with the following:

(a) One (1) week’ s basic pay for each completed year of net credited service

up to and including five (5) years.

(b) One (1) week’ s basic pay for each completed six (6) months of net credited

service beyond five (5) years and up to and including ten (10) years,

(c) One (1) week’s basic pay for each completed four (4) months of net credited

service beyond ten (10) years.

(d) In cases where an employee has more than fifteen (15) years of net credited

service, the Company may, in its discretion, make payments in addition to

those provided under (a), (b), and (c) above, such additional payments to be

determined by the Company on an individual basis.

It is understood that the Company may, in its discretion, pay a layoff allowance

in any of the above situations in an amount greater than that provided for herein.

If an employee receives a layoff allowance and is subsequently reengaged by

the Company, and the number of weeks since the date of his layoff is less than the

number of weeks’ basic pay received as a layoff allowance, the amount paid to the

employee for the excess number of weeks shall be refunded to the Company through

payroll deductions in each payroll period attherate of 10 percent of the employee’ s

basic v/eekly wage.

An employee reengaged and again laid off after having former service accredited shall be paid the difference between the amount of the layoff allowance computed

under the above schedule and any former layoff payment which he may have received

as a result of the previous layoff and not refunded.

Section 6. The provisions of this Article shall not be construed to prevent the

Company at any time from:

(a) Transferring employees from one job classification to another (either at

the same location or in another location) or transferring employees from

one location to another without change in job classification;

(b) Making incidental layoffs in any job classification and exchange on account

of the normal fluctuations of the business or because of minor readadjustment.s of force;

(c) Engaging line construction or tree trimming crews on an independent contractor relationship or engaging any person on a temporary or occasional

basis;

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(d) Laying off employees engaged for a definite time or for the duration of a

specific project or condition without regard to their Company service,

even though such employees may have been carried on the payroll as

regular employees;

(e) Retaining necessary employees in those job classifications requiring

specialized pre-employment training.

Section 7. If, after a period of layoff, the Company again desires to increase

the number of its regular nonsupervisory employees within a job classification and

exchange in which there has been a mass or general layoff, the Company agrees to

offer reemployment, under the conditions hereinafter provided, to former regular

employees previously engaged in such job classification and exchange. Such reemployment shall be offered to employees in the inverse order in which they were laid

off, subject to the following conditions:

(a) The former employee had one (1) year or more of net credited service at

the time he was laid off.

(b) The period of time since the layoff of the former employee has not exceeded

one (1) year.

(c) The former employee is qualified, in the judgment of the Company, to perform the available work at the time the offer of reemployment is made.

(d) The former employee shall accept and be available for reemployment

within seven (7) days after the date of the mailing by the Company of the

offer of reemployment. It shall be the obligation of former employees to

keep the Company advised of their home addresses, and the Company shall

be deemed to have complied with the provisions of this Paragraph upon

mailing the offer of reemployment to the lastknown address of the former

employee.

Article 27 - Termination Allowances

Section 1. Termination allowances in amounts computed in accordance with

Section 3 of this Article will be paid to regular full-time employees having three (3)

or more years of ne,t credited service whose service is terminated by the Company

under any of the following conditions as determined by the Company:

(a) Dismissed (except for misconduct), for employees having completed three

(3) or more years of net credited service at the time of dismissal.

(b) Retired at the age of sixty-five (65) without a pension.

Section 2„ Termination allowances will not be paid to employees who are dismissed for misconduct, resign, or receive a Company pension, or who otherwise

leave the service under conditions not specified in Section 1 of this Article.

Section 3. The amount of the termination allowances paid in accordance with

this Article will be computed as follows:

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(a) One (1) week’ s basic wages for each completed year of net credited

service up to and including five (5) years.

(b) One (1) week’ s basic wages for each completed six (6) months of net credited service beyond five (5) years and up to and including ten (10) years.

(c) One (1) week’ s basic wages for each completed four (4) months of net credited service beyond ten (10) years.

An employee qualified to receive a termination allowance under this Article

who leaves the service before receiving a vacation, which he is eligible to receive

at the time of his separation, shall receive vacation pay in addition to the termination

allowance.

The Company may, in its discretion, pay termination allowances in amounts

greater than those provided in this Section, such amounts to be determined by the

Company on an individual basis.

Section 4.

(a) If an employee receives a termination allowance and is subsequently reengaged by the Company, and the number of weeks since the date of his

separation is less than the number of weeks’ basic wages received by the

employee as a termination allowance, the amount paid to the employee for

the excess number of weeks shall be refunded to the Company through

payroll deduction in each payroll period at the rate of 10 percent of the

employee’ s basic weekly wage.

(b) An employee reengaged and again separated from the payroll after having

former service credited, shall be paid the difference between the amount

of the termination allowance computed in accordance with the provisions

of this Article and any former termination allowance which he may have

received as a result of a previous separation and not refunded to the

Company.

Section 5. Questions arising under this Article may be referred to the grievance procedure, but neithej the interpretation nor the application of the provisions

of this Article shall be subject to arbitration.

Section 3. “Regular employees” are persons whose employment is reasonably

expected to be permanent at the time they are engaged although it may be terminated

subsequently by action on the part of the Company or the employee.

Section 4. “Temporaiy employees” are persons whose employment is intended

to last more than three (?) weeks but not more than one (1) year. Such employees

shall be reclassified as “ -egular employees” if their employment exceeds one (1)

year continuous service since date of last engagement.

Section. 5, “Occasional employees” are persons whose employment is intended

to last for a single period ol three (3) weeks or less, or intermittently for periods of

three (3) weeks or less.

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Section 7. The term “Traffic central office operating employees shall be

deemed to mean Traffic operators and employees engaged in the Traffic Department

as Service Assistants, Service Observers, and Routine Clerks.

Section 1 5. The term “net credited service” shall mean Bell System net credited service as determined by the Company and shown on the Company’ s records.

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Appendix B. Selected Bibliography on Adjusting to

Technological Change

I. Publications Dealing Specifically with the Telephone Industry

Automation: Impact and Implications, prepared by the Diebold Group Inc.,

for the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, April 1965.

Loewenberg, J. Joseph. Effects of Change on Employee Relations in the

Telephone Industry. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation submitted to the

Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, June 1962.

(Various pagings)

Technology and Manpower in the Telephone Industry. 1965-75. Manpower

Research Bulletin No. 13, U.S. Department of Labor, November 1966.

The Change from Manual to Dial Operation in the Telephone Industry, Women’ s

Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, 1933.

Women Telephone Workers and Changing Technology, Bulletin No. 286,

Women’ s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, 1963.

II. Publications Dealing with Technological Change and Adjustment in a Variety

of Industries

Adjusting to Technological Change, Edited by Gerald G. Somers and others,

Harper and Row, 1963.

Bok, Derek and Max D. Kossoris. Methods of Adjusting to Automation and

Technological Change. Appendix to the Report of the President’ s Advisory

Committee on Labor-Management Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.

Creative Collective Bargaining. Edited by James J. Healy, Prentice-Hall,

Inc., 1965.

Helfgott, Roy B. andR. Beaumont. Management Automation and People, Industrial Relations Counselors, 1964.

Kennedy, Thomas. Automation Funds and Displaced Workers, Harvard

University Press, 1962.

Manpower Implications of Automation. Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, September 1965.

Seminars on Private Adjustments to Automation and Technological Change.

President’ s Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy, May-June,

1964. (Various pagings)

Shultz, George P. and Arnold Weber. Strategies for the Displaced Worker,

Harper and Row, 1966.

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Technology and the American Economy. Report of the National Commission

on Technology, Automation and Economic Progress, Vol. I, February 1966.

Wedderburn, Dorothy. Manpower Planning for Technical Change at the Enterprise Level. Paper delivered at the International Conference on Methods of

Adjustment of Workers to Technical Change at the Plant Level, Organization

for Economic Cooperation and Development, Amsterdam, November

15-18, 1966.

III. Bureau of Labor Statistics Publications

Adjustments to the Introduction of Office Automation, Bulletin No. 1276, I960.

Case Studies of Displaced Workers, Bulletin No. 1408, 1964.

Impact of Office Automation in the Internal Revenue Service, Bulletin No.

” 7364, 1963. ~

Impact of Office Automation in the Insurance Industry, Bulletin No. 1468, 1966.

Labor Mobility and Private Pension Plans: Study of Vesting, Early Retirement and Portability Provisions, Bulletin No. 1407, 1964.

Management Rights and Union-Management Cooperation, Bulletin No. 1425-5,

1966..

Manpower Planning to Adapt to New Technology at an Electric and Gas Utility,

Report No. 293, 1965.

The Operation of Severance Pay Plans, Bulletin No. 1462, 1966.

Severance Pay and Layoff Benefit Plans, Bulletin No. 1425-2, 1965.

Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plans and Wage-Employment Guarantees,

Bulletin No. 1425-3, 1965.

34

* U.S. G O V E R N M E N T P R IN T IN G O FFIC E : 1968 0 - 2 9 1 - 7 0 9

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