Customer Service Jobs in Connecticut Could be Saved

Posted on November 7, 2008

While AT&T Inc. recently announced its plans to make cuts, officials are doing their part to save customer service jobs in Connecticut.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal last week asked state regulators to block any cuts pending an investigative hearing. However, according to an article by the New Haven Register, regulators do not normally get involved in labor issues.

AT&T announced in October that it planned to close its Meriden call center, eliminating 60 jobs and relocating the work to Michigan. Anyone losing a job would have the option of applying for another job within the company in Connecticut.

“There is no one at AT&T who is losing their job,” Spokesman David Mancuso said in the article, adding that the company is adding Connecticut jobs in such segments as the U-verse television service and wireless divisions.

The company will hold a job fair from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at its Rocky Hill office in hopes to fill more than 100 job openings in the state. Those jobs include wireless sales and management positions and technicians for the U-verse service.

At the same time, Blumenthal and Communications Workers of America Local 1298 in Hamden, which represents some AT&T workers, claim the company is cutting customer-oriented jobs at a time when its customer service record is declining.

“Even while under review for its failed customer service, AT&T is moving ahead full force with plans to cut jobs that are critical to service,” Blumenthal said in the article.