From time to time, HD Notebook has chronicled Verizon's "big dig" in various suburbs and exurbs (notably in Texas, upstate New York and the D.C. suburbs of Virginia and Maryland) for the telco's fiber optic (FiOS) network for TV, broadband and telephony. The dig (perhaps as to be expected) has not always gone smoothly, with some complaints of crews inadvertently cutting existing underground cable TV, power or phone lines in mostly established neighborhoods.
This week, the Washington Post added to Verizon's headaches with news of a non-technical sort: allegations that day laborers in the trenches (literally) were not properly paid. It seems that after a series of subcontracting awards for Verizon's $20 billion FiOS dig in new housing areas near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va.--subcontracts often going down three or four levels--diggers being paid with hourly wages and no benefits were not receiving their $100 daily paychecks they say were promised to them.
A Verizon exec was quoted in the Post as saying he "felt badly" for the day workers, but said only the subcontractor that hired the mostly Hispanic workers was directly responsible for the alleged oversight.
