It’s now going to be slightly more difficult to get your Verizon landline serviced or get through to someone at a Verizon call center, after Big Red announced this morning that it intends to cut about 1% of its total workforce.

The company says it will be making buyout offers to some technicians and call-center employees but that it may have to lay people off the old-fashioned way if not enough workers go voluntarily.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the plan was announced to union workers last week.

A company rep says that the buyouts are being offered because of a “workforce surplus” in Verizon’s landline segment, which — like all landline businesses — has been hit by the increasing number of people going wireless-only.

Verizon to cut 1,700 technician, call center jobs [Chicago Tribune]

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