Thanks for Coming Out…Not

I worked for Nortel in Enterprise sales for 9 years (2000 - Nov. 2009), I jumped ship just before going to Avaya. Nortel was an awesome place to work, yes I started in the hype year, thought I has won the lottery when I received my official job offer letter. To the last day, I was still proud of all of the accomplishments this company made. I feel for the guy not getting even a pat on the back for the 30 years, and great to see his wife stick up for him, but their are only a few companies left who recognise that sort of thing - the old CN Rails, Bell Canadas, Canada Post...
Work is what you make of it. And at Nortel, i can only be greatfull of the wounderful times I had and great friends and surprisingly (almost ignorantly) loyal customers.

congrats on the 30 years.

Greed is the only 'core value' that Nortel execs, Sr Management and BoD have used as their moral guiding principle. Some of the nasty, heartless remarks below show how greed has colored the value system of corporate North America and rotted it to the core. You can't take it with you people and those who sincerely worked hard over the years to build and grow inspite of the collossal greed around them are the real heros. It is these solid, reliable workers that will get us out of the mess we are in today. Those flash in the pan types like Z-man and his cronies will just have a lot of money to spend on finding happiness in the face of the disasters in their personal lives ... it's called Karma. They will not get to 'enjoy' even one penny of it

Corporate greed at its finest. The US companies are not the only ones who specialize in it.

30 years of service is a badge of honor. You would have needed to be a very valuable employee to have lasted that long in today's economic climate.

Previous negative comments just show how attitudes of workers have had to change to accommodate a world where an employee has become a disposable commodity. It is not a reflection of a better or improved capitalism.

A famous American sociologist recently stated on a CBC radio program that conservative pension plans which not a long time ago would hold a stock for 4 years were now holding stocks for on the average 4 months. This reflects today's economic environment attitudes are fostered to answer to the very short term demands of the market and not the long term best interests of the company.

This is a problem. Company's like Nortel did the long term R&D needed to develop many important next generation products. Without the long view, much worthwhile innovation will be lost and the economic system will be poorer for it. ( Before some of you puff up too much here, let me acknowledge Nortel is guilty of a multitude of other sins which have put it where it is today. )

Many companies today are consuming themselves, burning to satisfy short term greed. These companies will likely implode, leading to more recessional malaise. Hopefully, new firms with the long view in mind, that do reward company loyalty, will grow to fill the breach.

The sad thing is that the husband is now unemployable because he didn't change jobs enough. This is 2009, not 1969. You can't stay with one company. Your loyalty should be to your family and your paycheck, not the company.

Welcome to the new millenium.

For someone to stay in a company for 30 years two things must have happened,

1. Nortel was not a bad place to work at and he decided to stay on
2. He was too lazy/unqualified to work elsewhere

If he had a good time at Nortel dont complain, others working in sweatshops in China and India would love to havethe kind of benefits your husband had.

'And dont give me the "loyalty" story, loyalty is earned not given so if he was loyal it was for good reason ie:good salary, good bonuses, comfy job

I agree 100%. I think a clear distinction needs to be made between the unfortunate situation that people have found themselves in vs. the laying of blame. 30 years at Nortel and he got nothing? What about 30 years of salary, health coverage, a nice place to work and lots of other benefits? I also can't beleive that he didn't get heaps of congratulatory emails from various managers as well as som sort of 5 year, 10 year, etc... recognition. What does he expect- a purple heart? I can't understand why so many people have this excessive feeling of entitlement. Based on this letter, it appears that Nortel met its end of the contract, much like the proud husband in the letter.

Z was at Nortel for 5 years and bagged a whole bunch of nothing. His performance sucked, yet he enjoyed salary, health coverage, took severance and finally he felt wounded and entitled to another 12 mio. Excessive? No, says you. I see a tiny difference there..........

Who gives a **** about a letter of congratulation.
Are you going to frame it next your winning lottery ticket.
Show me the money or Show me some security.
If my only worry in life or piece of bad news was not getting a letter
of thanks or congratulations from my employer I'd be a happy camper probably
with nothing but a few solveable or non impacting problems in life.

Dear Proud Wife,

As a long time Nortel customer, I am grateful for all the hard work your husband put into his job. All of us on the customer side appreciate his contribution to our ability to do business for our customers.

From a customer of Nortel

Dear Proud Wife, I’m working for Nortel and one of my colleges achieved 10 years in the company a few months ago, he did get a letter from Philippe M to thank him for his achievement and hard work, do not know under what LC you husband is working, in MEN they do sent letters of gratitude.

p.s. to be honest I was surprised to see this kind of letter.

This letter from the proud wife is perfectly and eloquently stated. I echo every line of her letter. Thank you so much for speaking for so many of us! Of course, the entire family, not just the employee is affected, and it great for you to point that out. Merry Christmas to each one.

Beautifully said, wasn't it? Wish I knew who it was... I'm proud of him too. And just as proud of his missus, whoever she was. What a remarkable lady.
Such willful and deliberate management negligence, such incompetent leadership at every level and function. First day of basic supervisor skills training teach better than that, let alone common sense.
Sadly it was quite common... our HR circus was very, very ordinary too.

Would you people believe me if I told you that the Crooks at the helm Smile at their destruction ? The Sociopath is in his element and most comfortable when people are suffering and the system is falling apart , unlike most people they are agitated when its serene ...

And it makes them RICH ... Bonus !

Makes this all the more sillier in retrospect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1T5EGGl8mo

I hadn't seen the "I Believe" campaign. What a neo-Nazi propaganda scheme, lying to the sheep all the way to slaughter. Well planned by Z-itler and his Hackney.

I Believe...

...it's over!

Yes, it seems to be over. Drive by the Richardson campus at night. They have turned off the Nortel Networks sign on the tower. Of course no Christmas decorations as done in previous years on the lab. Oh, and the lights that were normally on in the lab, in the arched window, are also off. Saving money and someone will certainly get a bonus as a result.

I am shocked. When I completed 25 years of service I got the offer of a cheap penknife or pair of binoculars. This made me feel really special and really appreciated. It was especially exciting as it could be done by logging into a site of the Internet to save bothering my manager.

I declined the offer.

Same here after 20 years. I remember many years ago when the lapel pins that designated service were given. They were something to strive for and people who had them used to wear them everywhere with pride. The days of pride & loyalty (both ways) are gone.

On my twentieth, I declined anything they were offering as a reward. Worthless tokens.

Same sort of thing here for 10 years, I skipped it too. I think it earned me a tea towel level prize from some web site. LOL, it actually had to be sent internationally!!

I'm struggling a bit with this one, as there are a ton of people who have been royally shafted who are deserving of our sympathies; you know, like the 25 year veterans who were given 2 hours to pack up their desks with no severance, and no warning. Or the pensioners who are being robbed of the funds they contributed to all their lives. But this husband has received at a minimum four very, very generous Incentive Plan bonuses this year which were completely uncalled for as far as I'm concerned. He is still drawing a handsome salary which has not been cut by a penny in the 5-7 years of meltdown. It's a pity yes, but just a shrug of the shoulders pity. Certainly not an outrage like I feel for the thousands of people who will not see a cent of the money truly owed to them.

Why must our sympathies be rationed such that those who remain employed by this sinking ship deserve nothing more than a shrug of our shoulders - that seems like pouring salt on the wound to me...

Sure, someone who devoted 25 years - the bulk of their adult life - to building up a company only to watch it be squandered by greedy fools before being frog-marched to the door suddenly one morning deserves all the sympathy we can muster...

But so does the poor slob who sat next to that person in the same cubicle for 25 years and just watched their friend and coworker get frog-marched out, knowing full well that they could be next. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. It all depends on the bonus schedule for those greedy fools in charge (sleep well if you can!). After all, the person who got laid off can focus fully on the future, even if the job market looks bleak at the moment - the folks left behind have to pick up all the work their former co-workers were doing (generally several peoples jobs after a decade of job losses without shedding any work), forced to meet all the same deadlines doing "more with less" on top of all their own pre-existing duties and all the while wondering when the tap on the shoulder will arrive for them... And if you think we can just quit, reference the tight job market that just got tighter thanks to the coworkers you just saw frog-marched out the door. Sounds like some real fun, don't it!

Yes this year has paid better AIP bonuses for rank & file workers than any since the bubble burst at the turn of the century - three payouts so far with potential for a fourth next year for those few workers not yet sold to some other company or laid off, amounting to 2, maybe 3 extra paychecks or about a month's wages in lieu of severance. Is that enough to disqualify someone from our sympathy?

Remember that the pool of AIP money - including the lion's share of it that's set aside for management - is dwarfed by the ocean of bonus money the execs set aside for themselves under the KIEP and KERP bonus programs implemented up front when they declared bankruptcy (roughly US$8 million for everyone vs US$45 million just for execs on top of their AIP bonuses). And unlike the AIP bonus money, which is only paid to the dwindling pool of folks who remain working for Nortel, the KIEP / KERP money was paid out up front to execs who have since bailed for greener pastures.

So please don't let your righteous indignation at the people who sank the Nortel ship through their ignorance and hubris, then stole everything they could lay their hands on before climbing aboard their private lifeboats and filing lawsuits against the wreckage they left behind, spill over onto those poor souls left standing on the burning deck. They deserve our sympathy just as much as the poor souls already in the water clinging to their life preservers...

I agree that we shouldn't have to ration our sympathies, but what it this person really saying? They didn't expect a trinket or bauble, they just wanted a thank you, and quite rightly so. Which means that they have a really poor manager who knows nothing about person management and team building. Any half decent manager would have said "congrats, let's go out to lunch on me". There's still some half decent managers in Nortel, but there's clearly a load of crap ones too.

This is not an issue on the scale of the corporate malfeasance, executive incompetence, legalized theft, loophole exploitation, greed and screwing of the vulnerable that has been going on for the last 12 months.

The ceremony at which Clarice Starling received her official FBI badge after bringing down Buffalo Bill was low-key, even austere.
But it took place.

Near the end, Nortel seemed to have strongly discouraged any dialogue whatsoever between the rank-and-file and their superiors, who weren't provided any news to give, either.

Why don't you guys have a go at the BoD's and/or courtmonitors? It is all to easy to criticise the "execs" (never sure who and how many people mean when they throw this term around willy nilly), but these people do not paythemselves. The BoD and/or monitors (depending on the specific timing) are the people tha approved the bonuses. Do you really think that any of you boggers out there would acually turn down a bonus if given one? We can debatewheher these people deserved the money or not, but I find it difficult to criticise them for takng money that they feel that tey earnd andthat someone aboe determined that they did as well. If the creditors feel that they will get more money in the end by paying certain employees bonuses, then that is there call. If you don't like this, complain to the government for allowing this sort of thing to happen.

"If you don't like this, complain to the government for allowing this sort of thing to happen"

Are you joking? there's not a day goes by when the federal MPs, Finance Ministers,cabinet ministers etc are not contacted by the groups of wronged ex-employees. There have been at least half a dozen banner waving protests on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and at Queen's Park in Toronto. There are a number of pressure groups trying to get changes made to bankruptcy law in Canada. I agree that whining about the execs, or the BoD, or the bankruptcy courts, or complaining on the the AAN blog are all a waste of time. But so far there has been little poltical progress made.

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
.....
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

Unfortunately, you can't get blood from a stone. These people at the top care not a whit about the regular "peons" that keep a company going. They don't even care about each other, and if push came to shove would throw the exec next to them into shark infested waters to save their own fortune, preserve their own future. There is only room for one person in their lives, the one they see in the mirror each and every day. From what I can tell, this is the new norm, especially in the tech world. As long as the hierarchy of power is working, don't expect a single thing to change, maybe only the increasing size of their golden parachutes.

Are you sure the Board and SLT can read? I doubt they can even make light bulbs.

When I hired on [nearly 20 years ago], "old timers" would talk about working around the clock and sleeping in switch rooms to meet customer commitment dates of completion - "K date". The joke was that DMS was an acronym for "Divorce Made Simple". And it wasn't far from the truth in many cases I witnessed. The travel, long hours, night work, short time at home for periodic weekends led to many failed marriages, missed birthdays and sports events.

But it was a great job - good money, great co-workers, and always challenging. We'd do anything to finish the job and were proud to do so. I remember one man who died in a single-car traffic accident one morning after pulling a double shift to meet K-date, the installer falling asleep at the wheel. Many sacrifices were made by workers, spouses, children and family.

Hats off to your husband and the many like him that built Nortel. May we all move on, hanging on hats on our personal character, dedication, commitment to the our jobs [the customer] and our families, which, unlike pensions and severance, can't be altered, reduced or taken away.

Just 10 years ago quite a few "kids" like myself embraced the pioneer spirit and dedication within Nortel R&D. We screwed up a few times, upstarts came and went, a few opted to follow the money, but most of us kept at it until we became ever more mired in metrics and mottos.

Thing is, nobody in the real world gives self-prescribed OJT, chronically outdated internal and online courses-scrounged-for-free too much creedence, beings how none of it helped us keep Nortel afloat. We did what we could.

These were put in place I think during Owen's time. Z did not even have the vision to update the values.

• People are our strength
The way people have been treated they never were recognized as being the strength of Nortel. For the past several years the company was political, weak in motivating and turned into a circus with the good ones never getting the recognition or opportunities they should have got.

• Accountability brings clarity
A big joke. Name one C-level, Presidnet, VP, Director who was fired in the last 3 years for bad decisions, poor management, losing money investing in laggard products. Just name one. Hackney survived although putting the company name out in the media for bad behavior. There was a Nortel exec many years ago who was fired for an indiscretion which put the company in bad light. You were only accountable if you did not have a buddy in the management chain.

• Integrity underpins everything
Integirty was never there at the top. Z and his cronies . Even prior to Z thiswas just a fad in the form of lip service to employees. Come on! They were only good at crunching numbers on how many employees had signed on the ethics course.

Well, I thank your husband and those like him...

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it...

Sending a letter to upper management with such a plea is based on the false pretense that people whose title starts with "C" actually care about the slaves beneath them. Once the slaves awaken to the fact that Cog-In-The-Wheel is modus operandi at Nortel and "C" title people exist to milk the system, then care, passion, and commitment to excellence should be abandoned in haste. Do your job, not a good one, not a bad one, just follow instructions. 30 years dedication being a slave to a bad master...that is rewarding?

Do your job, not a good one, not a bad one, just follow instructions

Lean Six Sigma absolutely requires this to be able to work its magic. So long as you meet the numbers its officially all good, end of story. Nevermind your working at the cutting edge of,say, R&D. You must stick to the program. Fashion your job to resemble an assembly line of stubbornly quantifiable units.

a flurry of programs will follow I imagine at Avaya, E// and Ciena. The GE Way.

Hats off to your husband for his dedication. It's because of the people like him that NT was a great in the past. I wish the fundamentals were right ... he would have had a fine moment and we wouldn't have been in this mess. I wish you all the best.

although not an employee of 30 (or more) years service, one of my managers also showed sincere appreciation on my 15 year anniversary by placing the opened service pin box in the seat of my chair, never giving a word of acknowledgement....

class, real class.....

When I joined Nortel people said you could retire with this company, pointing to many who had 25, 30 years of service. I left long time ago since the very values at Nortel you posted were not followed at the top. Prior to Z, at least there was some grace in commemorating people even in bad time of cutting cost.

Kudos to your husband for being loyal for 30 years. Loyal, there is no more meaning to that word in the corporate world anymore.

That is what I am keeping saying: we should unite all employees (ex- or remaining) and share holders to do something targeting those greedy execs, at least on the list is: Mike Z and previous BOD members, not allow those thieves running away. Whoever responsible for bringing down Nortel will be captured in a class-action law suit. The medias and lawers will be ready for the next year events. No happy or merry Christmas for those previous Nortel execs.

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/mike-zafirovskis-house/view/?service=1

Looks like the Z Man won't be hurting after destroying Nortel

It will surely pain him greatly to have to change the paint in his basketball court from strictly Nortel blue to the proper ratio of Ciena, Avaya, E///, etc. colors because he was Nortel for so long, but Z is a team player.

Legend has it every game played there ended in a tie, i.e. a win for both sides, when played on Zs court.

I totally understand your comment as I also celebrated my 30 service years (alone) last March-2nd when I was laid off. I was expecting as you said some recognition of some sort but sadly I received my termination letter for recognition. What a great company!!! It seems that I was doing almost the same job as your husband dealing with customer support. Anyhow I wish you all the best and take care...

Ex-employee...

30 years devoted here and life long savings vaporized to fraud vaporized there... 90 million people and $300 billion market cap effected... it has been dire for too many lives to thwart any home invasion

Amid high energy costs, no jobs post a jobless recovery, social benefits cut, futile government action selling public assets or legalizing casinos, taxing energy or anything they can, and this isn't a 3rd world country, this is Canada we're talkin.

When it recovers, it isn't the little guys who benefit either it seems.

Where is government to have protected the employee and shareholder more effectively? Sleeping at the wheel? Or did they not care being in bed with big business too?

Adgates /Airbus gates /Bre-X, Nortel /OLG /ehealth/ etc.in lax laws fraud haven Canada. This may not be the last time we hear about Canadian grown tyranny, and only god knows who didn't get caught or what we do not know about.

Kudos to you "A Proud Wife" for standing by and supporting your husband through the turmoils of employment at Nortel and kudos for continuing to do so during the time remaining. Praise, from just another Nortel employee, for your husbands dedication. I'm sure he is a pleasure to work for/with and is a true asset to the company.

Well I can understand her frustration after having supporting her husband for so many years. Nice letter but it falls on totally deaf ears. I hope she hasn't been in denial for too many years. The company was basically doomed by 2005 and there was no "rising from the proverbial ashes" The real legacy of Nortel will be to
release it's managers to the world to be swallowed up by other corporations. This will
just help to ruin more companies as these managers will never be held accountable for destroying one of Canada's prise assets. It will also be interesting to see how these managers embelish their resumes with BS to look like they were trying to save Nortel.

I just completed 25 years of service. For the last several years I am wondering why I did not move to another company. I knew that above my direct manager there was no leadership whats so ever. It was every man for himself. Whenever we get those emails thanking me for my hard work and dedication I laugh. I am now just like those greedy executives its every man for himself. I don't share any information with any of my co-workers I don't help the customer unless its absolutely necessary. And I don't say anything positive about Nortel. When one of my co-workers asks I tell them its every man for himself now.

nortelbob25, say it ain't so! If we let the bastards turn us into carbon copies of them, then they win. All we have left is our pride and self respect. I'm 25+ years into this ride as well, and it has been a bitter disappointment to see the thing we worked so long and hard to build up get p*ssed away by some greedy incompetents. They have destroyed our lives' work with their ignorance and hubris, and they don't even seem to care what they've done.

But we cannot let them mold us into their image: we must keep doing our jobs to the best of your abilities, even if we're the only one who will ever know the difference. Lend a hand to your coworkers, who are living the same hellish nightmare we've all been stuck in for far too long. Go the extra mile for each customer, same as we used to do back when times were good and the at-a-boy AMEX gift checks flowed like water - after all it's not our customers' fault that Nortel's BoD handed the company over to a series of clueless egomaniacs (all of whom are now suing Nortel for even more money, while severance and long term disability goes unpaid - tells you what kind of people they are).

All we can do now is all we ever do - give our level best in full measure every single day, no matter what the bastards say or do. That's what makes us the best in the industry even if our so-called leaders did drive our company into the ground. Don't let them take that away from you too...

Hang in there!

Writing to those will callous disregard above their bonuses is futile. Falls on deaf ears.

Even Nortel's sign is recently removed from the West Mall building as they race into the abyss of history so who would remain to write any thanks.

Nortel's compassion is limited to those they hold close relationships (big business creditors, or anyone in government and regulating authorities that could have assisted them when operating under the benefit of doubt or ultimatum).

Nobodys and peons get nuthin. Even the somebodies loot the corpse with large creditor claims.

Its not what the employee can do for the company but what the company can do for its high paid executives it seems. Llike having a high profile green board member's law firm defend a previous CEO charged with fraud, trading options for cash again, increasing lawsuit insurance, getting bonuses and raises approved after bankruptcy etc....

Plea bargains to timely resign with a reluctance to chase past officers, slander, no transparency, hype and misleading to contradictions, ultimatums, exorbitant pay practices, fraud, promoting than firing criminally charged pal, etc.,

It has been endless and to be seen to be believed after so much hype, so many lies, and the largest fraud in Canada. Always claiming to not know, when they sure should have, from a moral or competent standpoint as they plead stupidity than face criminal accusations and charges. They lie and lie and lie...

Even if they treated their shareholders /owners like dirt, they could have at least have protected their employees than bonuses and big business creditors as any ethical corporation would have done.

It seems everyone is fair game to disappointment, excluding the executives who ran it to the ground as the good lady says.

Everyone should be thankful that at least this slippery fraud dog, master of delay deceit and loopholes, is gone.

Eloquent.