Gawker: valleywag, qwest

Qwest signs contract as union chalks up another win

Jackson West — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:20:00 EDT

The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have reached a tentative agreement with Denver-based telco Qwest, pending approval by the 20,000 employees under contract. The agreement was reached in the eleventh hour after the CWA and IBEW had voted to authorize a strike when their contracts expired at midnight on Saturday. The contract calls for 9 percent raises over its three year term, and brought employees of Qwest's directory-assistance operations under contract. Based on the language of the CWA's press release, critics might complain about the agreements reached on healthcare, with the union citing the healthcare cost epidemic and Qwest's financial performance as mitigating factors in their concessions to the bosses during negotiations.

The Qwest deal follows on a larger contract signed on behalf of Verizon employees by the CWA, also under threat of strike. "That day, with the strike deadline looming, the company started bargaining a lot more seriously," CWA spokesman Jeff Miller said of the earlier negotiations in a phone call last week. But even by adding call-center employees, the CWA has their work cut out for them expanding its rolls. "The new technologies are not as labor-intensive as past years. An awful lot of jobs have disappeared in the traditional copper wireline business," Miller added. What about fiber-optic linemen, like those working on Verizon's Fios efforts? Those employees were largely under contract already, according to Miller. And once the fiber's in the ground, those jobs will get buried, too. (Photo by AP/David Zalubowski)

Sprint lost a lot, Qwest did okay

Alaska Miller — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Sprint Nextel just can't stop the bleeding, losing $344 million and 901,000 subscribers last quarter. This was actually better than Q1, when they lost $505 million and 1 million subscribers. Qwest — communications provider to Bill Gates country and the rural Midwest — meanwhile earned $188 million, which was a 24 percent drop compared to $245 million in the same quarter the year before. Qwest also only signed up 31,000 high-speed Internet subscribers. [KansasCity.com, Reuters]

Qwest CEO's new trial best viewed with tinfoil hats on

Jackson West — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:40:16 EDT

Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio will be getting yet another day in court. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals cited improper exclusion of testimony and evidence in Nacchio's April 2007 conviction on insider trading charges. Nacchio faces six years in prison and $71 million in fines and forfeitures if he loses this appeal.

Nacchio's attorney, Maureen Mahoney, argues that his sunny disposition amidst troubling financial predictions from company officials (and his own sale of millions of dollars of Qwest shares) were due to optimism that the company would win lucrative contracts with the National Security Agency. The appeals court agreed that classified documents related to those negotiations were improperly excluded.

The defense could benefit from a new jury sympathetic to their argument that Nacchio was a defender of civil liberties who raised questions concerning the legality of undisclosed NSA programs (which name I imagine starts with "warrantless" and ends with "wiretapping"). Smart move. God-fearing, patriotic defender of the Constitution generally plays better with John Q. Public than wealthy CEO blissfully unaware of impending corporate insolvency.

FULL COVERAGE:

(Photo by Reuters/Rick Wilking)

Meet your whitecollar crimelords: Joseph Nacchio

Nick Douglas — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:40:42 EDT

If his criminal charges are all dropped, Frank Quattrone could collect $100 million in back pay from his former employer. As long as the major investment banker (who blew up the dot-com bubble with IPO funding) stays clean for a year, he's golden. Great, story over, next criminal.

Why, look, it's former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, accused of insider trading to the tune of $101 million. In the other corner, first assistant U.S. attorney Cliff Stricklin, last seen putting Ken Lay behind bars.

If our man wants to be Nacchio Libre, he'll have to fight 42 charges of insider trading. His current defense? "I had no idea the company was going under." Yeah, that seemed to work just fine for Lay.

Of course, the Secret Insider Knowledge that Nacchio say made him so confident...is classified. Matters of national security. Let's see if Nacchio can't eat just one charge with that defense.

Enron Prosecutor to Lead Case Against Qwest's Former CEO [WSJ]