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| AT&T to cut 12,000 jobs, 4 percent of staff |
| 2008-12-05 |
| Pressured by the economic turmoil and the mounting loss of traditional phone customers, AT&T Inc. is cutting 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its work force. The Dallas-based telecommunications company, the nation's largest, said the job cuts will begin this month and run throughout 2009. The company also plans to lower its capital spending next year, and one analyst estimates that reduction could be as much as $2 billion. The 300,000-person company has announced layoffs several times over the past few years, including in April, when it said it would eliminate 4,600 jobs, but it has been hiring at the same time. This is the first time since the company bought BellSouth Corp. in 2006 that it said overall staffing would decline. The new cuts were part of a parade of layoffs tied to the recession. In addition Thursday, chemicals company DuPont announced plans to lose 2,500 jobs, Credit Suisse Group slashed 5,300 and media conglomerate Viacom Inc. jettisoned 850. Yet AT&T, which provides local phone coverage in California, Texas and 20 other states, is also being pulled by another current: the long-term trend of people defecting from landline phones to wireless services or phone service from the cable company. In the last quarter, AT&T's basic voice lines in service dropped 11 percent. Its wireless customer base, meanwhile, grew 14 percent. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 ION, GUAM K57 RADIO NEWS > FROM JAPAN: OBAMA MAY DELAY GUAM BUILDUP. Seems Obama's diplomatic team/staff has told and agreed wid Japanese officials that the reloc of 8000 US Marines and dependents to Guam is "INFEASIBLE", AND NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED AND REEXAMINED??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-05 18:02 |
| #6 Correction: etiquette. It has little to do with ed. No offense to ed. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-12-05 15:18 |
| #5 Barbara---It is more appropriate to say, Bwahahahahahaha. Looked it up in the Rantburg Book of Ediquette. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-12-05 15:17 |
| #4 M. Murcek - If I say "tee-hee" does that make me a bad person? ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-05 12:30 |
| #3 International Brotherhood of Communications Workers members. Ironic that the tenure of The One is gonna be historically catastrophic for members of international brotherhoods of whatever, no matter what the gummint tries to do to reverse it... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-12-05 12:20 |
| #2 How many millions of dollars will the company officers and executives get for chopping that many heads? *Spit* |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-12-05 09:49 |
| #1 Its basic voice lines dropped in large part because it is pushing ip phones over dsl. Its stock is performing fine while the rest of the market is tanking. Sounds like just an excuse for more offshoring. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-12-05 00:16 |