AT&T Begins 2010 By Cutting Jobs Job cuts in numerous states on tap for February and March Over the last six months, many AT&T employees have told us they expect the telco to continue laying off a considerable number of workers in 2010. The cuts are underway in California, where local news outlet KCRA notes that AT&T is planning to lay off 525 technicians statewide by the end of March. The cuts of course are tied, in part, to AT&T continues landline losses; AT&T landline revenues last quarter fell 7.1% to $16.3 billion from $17.6 billion one year ago. In Connecticut, where the telco already has a tense relationship with CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal over previous layoffs, the company says they're trimming an additional 160 jobs by February 19.
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 | | we need to make them pay if they trun them in to 1099 works we need to make them pay if they trun them in to 1099 works and get out paying there part of the tax and there health care. | |
|  |  LocoObviously InsanePremium
join:2002-11-09
21 Jump St.
kudos:2 | Re: we need to make them pay if they trun them in to 1099 works Just beautiful ! | |
| | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Hrmmmm.. do you know much about the difference between a 1099 and a W2 employee??
1099 workers tend to make more than a W2.. and 1099 workers can't work for ATT in this capacity... a 1099 worker would have to have more of a business and have more than one job/client... (there are other reasons for 1099, but I'm not going to go into the whole tax code) There are 1099 workers that do get health care as well as part of the package.
W2 workers tend to make less, taxes are with-held, and benefits are not attached to a W2 worker directly (hand in hand)
Your post, honestly, doesn't make sense. Tell me,.. is the sky falling?
I don't see anything wrong with a cut back in work force if the business isn't there - that's part of life. Will it suck big time? sure... but it's part of business.. the economy is shrinking - BIG time in CA - but.. as this site displays regularly, the land-line is dying... you think they should continue to employ people that aren't needed? If there are less and less land line customers, there is going to only be a need to have less people to maintain them.
While this is most likely due to the economy, part of this is just a natural shift in technology and the work force required for it. | |
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 PToN
join:2001-10-04
Houston, TX | oh 1099 Schlumberger did that... They laid off several people and they were hired as consultants, they ended up making $20K more a year than as a full time SLB employees.
2 years went by and it was to either be hired back or find yourself out of a job. People accepted to get rehired, but with that they had to take pay cuts... | |
| |  jester121Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: oh 1099 There's nothing unusual about that -- 1099 employees are responsible for their own self-employment tax as well as insurance benefits, so for the same net pay they should be grossing more. | |
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Reviews:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Relate this story to the DSL Price Increase story AT&T appears to be trying to shift its customers from DSL/POTS to U-verse. They pay their POTS/DSL technicians much more (some say 2-3 times more) than their new U-verse techs who do the installs.
The DSL price increases were announced now, but delayed for 12 months. Why would they do that, except as a signal to customers that they should migrate to U-verse? | |
| |  Killa200Premium
join:2005-12-02
Southeast TN | Re: Relate this story to the DSL Price Increase story And I'd love to migrate to U-Verse... just as soon as they upgrade the plant in my city so that i may do so. They can keep their horrid tv service though, i just want the faster internet speeds.
Good thing my state isn't affected by the price increase though, they already stuck us with prices higher than ATT's native regions, as part of the "you'll be better with us than being Bellsouth alone" plan  | |
| | | | | Re: Relate this story to the DSL Price Increase story AT&T could offer higher internet speeds without U-Verse in almost the entire BellSouth footprint if they wished.. most of it is ADSL2+.. it was depressing seeing my modem being able to sync at 22 Mbps and knowing that AT&T would never offer anything higher than 6 Mbps unless you had U-Verse, which I am about 500 feet to far away for. | |
| | | | Killa200Premium
join:2005-12-02
Southeast TN | Re: Relate this story to the DSL Price Increase story We're synced up at the office here as well with ADSL2+, with great statistics being that were 1000ft wire distance away from the CO in town on the next block from us. Unfortunatly we are set to never sync over 8124kbit irregardless.
DSL Sync Rate (Kbits/Sec)
8124 / 511
SN Margin (db)
20.5 / 22.0
Line Attenuation (db)
17.0 / 7.5
Sigh  | |
| | | | | | | Re: Relate this story to the DSL Price Increase story 8124 was the sync of mine.. My modem (the ADSL2+ 802.11g modem by 2wire.. forgot the model number) had a "max sync rate" that showed what it could in theory sync at if set to do so. I have long since switched to Comcast... double the speed for the same price. | |
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|  AlakarFacts do not cease to exist when ignored
join:2001-03-23
Milwaukee, WI | It's not just POTS and DSL. I was layed off by AT&T in July, along with about 250 people in my organization. In November the rest of the people in my org were let go. We all worked on the Uverse development side of things. AT&T is shortsightedly trying to eliminate in house workers and contract out everything. Short term profits, long term problems.
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"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom; it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt the Younger | |
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| | Here they go again. No big surprise here... They have been pulling this game since the
80's and 90's No diff in the 2000's.
They do NOT care about the people that work for them. | |
| | isaac73
join:2002-09-10
Saint Louis, MO | Re: Here they go again. said by nobiggie :
They do NOT care about the people that work for them.
Ain't this the truth!!! | |
| | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | said by nobiggie :
No big surprise here... They have been pulling this game since the
80's and 90's No diff in the 2000's.
They do NOT care about the people that work for them.
Business changes decades ago.. this isn't the 50's anymore where business took stock in employees... if you haven't noticed, there is no such thing as job security any more, unless you know where the body is buried.
Today's work force is more of a commodity. You hire what you need, and you cut them loose when you no longer need them.
If you want companies to care about employees and keep them around for life, then we can go back to the way things were... slow growth, less of the people in the home working, more dependency on marriage and the family unit, and all the rest of the way life USED to be.. I don't know about you, but I keep myself educated and valuable for the next place I land for work.
Sorry, this sounds harsh, but I'd rather have what we have today rather than back in the 50's. I also do believe things changed around the time of the E.R.A. era... think about it. Comparing today from yesterday, I'd rather have what we have now than the way things USED to be. | |
| | | | | Re: Here they go again. Yeah that sounds wonderful until they develop a bias for your old butt and decide that they don't need personel like yourself when you are pushing the ripe old age of 50..
All your holier than thou crap will come to an end then. | |
|
dforan
join:2000-12-09
Willoughby, OH Reviews:
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| Good Old AT&T I spent a total of 33 years with the company. I lived thru divestiture and some bad management  but the real reason AT&T is laying off, is they are going to, or have bought some mundane company and need the cash to pay for it..
AT no time shall it be construed that AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, will EVER do anything to benefit the American Consumer. Client facing employees are just a wast of money. | |
| |  alchav
join:2002-05-17
Palm Desert, CA |  Re: Good Old AT&T
said by dforan:I spent a total of 33 years with the company. I lived thru divestiture and some bad management but the real reason AT&T is laying off, is they are going to, or have bought some mundane company and need the cash to pay for it.. AT no time shall it be construed that AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, will EVER do anything to benefit the American Consumer. Client facing employees are just a wast of money. I too spent 31 glorious years with Pacific Bell, and the best of those years was away from AT&T. AT&T isn't the problem, Personnel and Customers are very important, but a Company thinks first of the Company. Employees are a huge expense, and cost cutting always starts there. | |
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| | AT&T HIRING Premises Technician NATIONWIDE ON MONSTER.COM I am registed on Monster.com and get constant referrals to AT&T for Premises Technician jobs in multiple locations in the US. So what up At&T ? | |
| | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: AT&T HIRING Premises Technician NATIONWIDE ON MONSTER.COM said by exRolmMan :
I am registed on Monster.com and get constant referrals to AT&T for Premises Technician jobs in multiple locations in the US. So what up At&T ?
Out with the expensive, long term employees, in with the new, cheaper work force.. those willing to do the job for less money..
.. it's reality... it's inevitable.. it's business. You can't just drop people's pay of an existing employee.. this is the "loop hole" to cheaper labor.
Also... if anyone hasn't noticed, California is a BRUTAL place for business these days... I have a business operating in CA.. the taxes are high, permitting is high, governmental fees are through the roof, and the state is, in all sense, bankrupt..
If companies like ATT don't take these steps and shore up their bottom line and business health, it's only going to make it even worse for the employee and consumer base in the end.. believe it or not, BUSINESS HAS TO SURVIVE in order for a social structure and economy to work. | |
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| | They should use those technicians to build FTTH It's a shame AT&T doesn't use those technicians to build FTTH like Verizon did. Then I might actually become an AT&T customer again. Maybe. U-verse wouldn't suck if it weren't crippled by copper-to-the-home. | |
| | | all about surviving bottom line is cost of the employee and business. if your dept is covering the cost of the business then it has to come out of somewhere and no company will survive if they dont make changes.
Downside to unions as ATT changes are hard to come by. How to get a 38.00 Telco tech to work on TV. well they don't it isnt in their contract.
So ATT hires TV techs on a short term contract to do the work. Cheaper and will do more things in their job classification.
Company's need to survive and cut where they need to. | |
| | | | Re: all about surviving said by my 2 cents :
bottom line is cost of the employee and business. if your dept is covering the cost of the business then it has to come out of somewhere and no company will survive if they dont make changes.
Downside to unions as ATT changes are hard to come by. How to get a 38.00 Telco tech to work on TV. well they don't it isnt in their contract.
So ATT hires TV techs on a short term contract to do the work. Cheaper and will do more things in their job classification.
Company's need to survive and cut where they need to.
Considering AT&T tripled their profits since 2005, I`m not sure `survival` is the right term here. | |
| | | | Wrong! bottom line is the Techs they hired to install uverse do nothing but cross connect at the X box and only inside wire coax and cat 5. They do not climb poles or use ladders. They are paid 15 hr and have no trouble shooting and or repair skills.
The union wanted to use the all ready trained techs but, the COMPANY wanted new low skill term employees, which take up to 5 hrs and 2 installers to get your set up working. A skilled UNION tech can do it better been there done that, and climb the pole, run a new loop, repair a trouble line etc. You get what you pay for the cheaper American contract loyal-less workforce. In your world let's hire the illegals as well they cut all corners break all OSHA rules, steal you jewelry while wiring your house too...Maybe if the companies trusted the people they all ready have, the loyal workers would do the jobs better, like they did before the days of GPS tracking, job matrix and customer manipulation...In Conn. we had a hybrid fiber coax tv called AMERICAST....10 yrs before the DUMB COWBOYS FROM TEXAS bought SNET dismantled the system and said "WE ain't in the TV business" Now we have a Walmart like Uverse half assed as any TEXAN could come up with, incompatible with any system and good for only 3 000 ft. This company isn't surviving it's in a death spiral of STUPID. | |
| | | | | Re: all about surviving Actually they are requiring us to climb poles now.(it's in the contract) We do the drop work and Anthony inside the house, so like you said we only need i&r for troubleshooting anything on the f2.
Also we don't double up on jobs here in wisconsin. And like you said it really depends on how experienced the tech is. Some take longer than others. Some of us were f2 conditioners so we do have more experience than the average prem tech, but I can't agree that every union tech can do a better job because alot of i&r here does not care to learn anything about uverse. | |
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Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Meanwhile... Failpoint is dragging it out so they can screw the unions. Haven;t heard much, have ya, about Fairpoint...huh? yeah, seems to me those FailerPointers are just delaying time so the contracts will be up and they will eff the union employees...
And now back to our thread on AT&T effin the worker...
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Splat | |
| | WhatNowPremium
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC | Re: Meanwhile... The morale in the former BellSouth region is below zero even among the first couple levels of management. You hear "and we thought BS was bad" all the time. The lower level managers which may even be state directors are just clerks. The job is to make it happen not think and be part of the plan. It is stop watch and spreadsheet management. They are running off their customers by not doing any upgrades except in Uverse areas. They are making the cable companies richer. | |
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decifal
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| standard This is pretty standard with any company that gets too big. They simply crave profit profit profit.. An industry such as this one shouldn't be purely based on something that enhances a country as a whole. The entire country use's services provided by ATT and other venues that provide services to stay functional. Just to be hampered by self indulging tactics like caps and lack of options is just self imploding...
Gaming, video, news, entertainment, communications is controlled by their ignorance. Thous their greed can also destroy any innovation in any of these in the name of profit.. Who would purchase a game online thats only downloadable if its going to eat 4 gig of your 5 gig allowance for the month? Noone! How about videos? Noone!
More technological regression here we come!! | |
|  nunyaWho is John Galt?Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
kudos:5
·Charter
 ·voip.ms
| Typical I'm former SWBT / SBC / AT&T. When I started, it was still "the phone company".
First and foremost, a "Premise Tech" is a lower paying job with less benefits. They have a high turnover rate. Even in today's economy, you can only whip a mule so hard at $14.00 an hour before they stop "pulling the cart".
The higher paid plant technicians (around $30-33/hr) require extensive training and years of training to be any good. The problem is, there's a LOT LESS CUSTOMERS on that plant. Unfortunately, AT&T fails to realize that even though there are a lot less customers, the amount of plant to maintain is still the same.
This also could be retaliation for long and painful contract negotiations.
AT&T treats their employees very poorly, but generally pays well.
I certainly am not a union fanboy. But I've been on both sides of the fence. The continued socialist "we deserve" mentality will ruin (is ruining / has ruined) companies and this country. Nobody deserves anything more than what they are willing to work for. If you don't want to bust your ass for a good paying job with good benefits, then go to college.
Contrary to what other people are posting; when I talk to my customers about their internet / TV service, they always rave about U-verse. Most say it's a far superior product to cable. Of course the cable co. here is Charter, so it's not too hard to be superior.
Based on that, when one my friends or customers ask about these services, I always recommend AT&T. I have absolutely ZERO vested interest in AT&T anymore (I cashed out 100%, and nobody in my family works there anymore.)
Unfortunately, AT&T is approaching this from the wrong direction - shedding employees from the bottom up, instead of the top down. There are too many Chiefs, and not enough Indians. There's still a lot of Fat-Cat management at AT&T that should have been shed when SBC bought AT&T.
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Looks like Reverend Wright got his wish - God Damn America.
Nancy Pelosi - House Minority Leader 2010
Harry Reid - Senate Minority Leader 2010 | |
| | | | Re: Typical Now this guy knows what this company is too big, too bloated, with the densest management ever. The present management is one way and lacks respect for the employees. We have become all that is wrong with companies today. At$t want no employees and all automation except the fat TEXANS. | |
| | | | Do you actually understand how the plant works??? Not as many customers on the old plant??? ALL things still run on the copper... TELEPHONE, DSL, UVERSE, CELL TOWER CIRCUITS... It all runs on the copper cables (in the same sheath and binders!) that us 'POTS Technicians' maintain.
Sheeeesh.... I wish people new what the hell they were talking about.... | |
| | | nunyaWho is John Galt?Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
kudos:5 Reviews:
·Charter
·voip.ms
| Re: Typical Uh. Yeah anonny, I built that that plant. I understand it - PERFECTLY. I've actually held it in my grubby, dirty, bleeding hands. I was once a king of pulp, paper, pic, throws, T1's, POTS, DSL, repeaters, cut arounds, drops, terminals, splices, sleeves, manholes, cases, air pressure, encapsulant, squirrels, lead, backhoes, and the like.
No. It doesn't all run on "the copper" like it used to. You are dead wrong. A lot of it is now riding over your competitions "coax". Some is riding over microwave backhaul (those cell companies do more with those towers than "cell" signal). Some is riding over FBCLEC's metro-loops and SONETS. Some is riding over a WISP.
IXC cables are still half dark or owned by a FBCLEC. Unfortunately for you, my friend, yours is a quickly shrinking and changing trade. I won't say dying, but morphing into something else. Unfortunately the lowest common denominator of the OSP workforce is being pared down. The entire industry has been in a race to the bottom with itself since divestiture. TA96 lifted the brakes and smashed the throttle.
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Looks like Reverend Wright got his wish - God Damn America.
Nancy Pelosi - House Minority Leader 2010
Harry Reid - Senate Minority Leader 2010 | |
|
Reviews:
·AT&T Midwest
| ATT isnt stupid So if POTS converts to IP service, who is going to pay the Universal Service Charges the Govt's are so glad to collect every month.
My understanding is those charges dont apply to IP svc (at this time) so ATT would surely expect the same treatment if they changed over.
Or the IP service providers will have to pony up and start paying USC's like ATT does now.
HINT, the Govt wont let everybody quit paying that fee, trust me. | |
| mori
join:2004-06-18
Mays Landing, NJ | and then there was Japan,, for the member here who posted that todays age its not the 50's, read a little more buddy,
In japan MOST workers work for life for a company, and HOLD AND BEHOLD they got better internet than us,better cars than us, better electronics than us, sooo with that said.
If u take care of ur work force, they in turn will take care of u, if u manage a company to bring in quality inovated products, the money will roll in. its only here in the US of A where companies only think of money and not the product they stared they companie for.
And that my friend its the difference betweens the 1950's and today, then they cared, today its all about money. | |
| | | at&t tech downsizing I work on the frame in the central office often wiring 42 dsl's a day and quite often more than that. I also answer all the calls from the techs outside, fix troubles and do special projects for management when they need to be done.
I work very hard and never stop with acception of my breaks and lunch.
I've held up my part of the deal for 21 years and now I feel like all of that hard work was for nothing.
at&t doesn't care about the customers. They don't care about the old network and I don't really think they care about the new one either. They just want people to pay them.
I will say this; if they offer me a really good buyout I'll probably take it just to get off the sinking ship. Sad to say but true. | |
| | | Losses my butt Give me a break... We have been working unlimited overtime in Nashville and forced overtime for months and they are still cutting heads here. They are cutting in Memphis while Memphis is borrowing 22 techs statewide to cover the load.
This is all smoke and mirrors.. Whenever I hear 'loss in landlines' I wanna puke... NEWSFLASH--- DSL is treated the same as a landline, it runs on the same copper! U-verse is treated like a landline, it runs on the last mile of the loop on, you guessed it, COPPER!! And guess what most of your cell tower circuits are running on?? Oh wow, yep, COPPER!! All of these items are on twisted pair copper running through the same cables, crossboxes, and terminals!!!
Know your facts before you start supporting corporate bean-counting-cake-eaters that have their golden parachute ready!!! | |
| | | $25 AN HOUR AIN'T WHAT U THINK IT IS . . . . As Americans we continue to be very bad at math. These "good union jobs" have placed us on the same level with our Wal Mart brothers and sisters. You have access to benefits, but you can't afford to use them. You might make $25 an hour, but now you pay a premium for benefits for you and your family which means more/higher co-pays across the board. They changed the vision plan so unlike with great provider VSP, you now have to go to lower quality vision centers at Sears and other mall locations to get your eyecare (poorer choices; higher costs for you if you go to a real doctor). They don't backfill jobs, so where you made $25 to do YOUR job, you're now doing the work of the 15-20 or more people that left the company so you're working more for the same money - you work harder, they don't have to pay overtime. There are people in sales positions that had their formulas changed so that the company pays a smaller salary which has to be replaced (by the worker) with higher commissions. No questions asked. What's the best, not only way to achieve our goals without hurting employees - the questions never even get asked. They've eliminated most holidays so where you used to get that benefit, you're at work when workers at other companies are home with their families living their lives. They've eliminated the team award so that's less money available for food, utilities, your kid's tuition or braces, that little help you gave ma or pa to pay for their medications because they can't afford it. People in our department have "events" all year to save enough money to pay for their own recognition - company doesn't have money to say thank you for bringing in billions and making me rich. And the list goes on and on. You're now down to your bare, highly taxed, hourly salary that is being stretched farther and farther, yet there's still the preception out there that we're doing as well as Randall Stephenson and his band of fat cats. The working environment is a living hell. The union is worthless and is standing by waving as hard-working, dedicated employees take their knowledge right out the door to the unemployment line. You also have to realize that not everyone gets a "package". People who bypass the package and stay risk being told well you have a job, but it's being transferred to somewhere that's extremely expensive or just doesn't work for many reasons (spouse wouldn't find work; elderly parents can't be moved; just don't want to live there, etc.), and for the suckers that do move, you could actually have the job in your new location eliminated as well. The business decisions that throw hard working Americans on the street are fine, okay, but I'd also be cutting off everything that even had the letters a t t in them on my way out. When they start going broke, maybe they'll look past list of employee numbers on a page they're throwing on the street and actually realize those numbers represent human beings who deserve better treatment. | |
| | | Sigma Six the wheel of corporate death!!! Recently, in the many company garbage emails, del...del...I read about this Corporate Program called Sigma Six...so I read about all the Belts of power and teams of Leadership creating a unrealistic working environment at achieving these goals!? Google Sigma Six and read about it's rise and FALL through the companies that followed it. First created by Motorola and used by HP honeywell and GE. the goal of process improvement through the "wheel of death" your either on the top or under the bus management system we now have in place at At$t. Gee, that's how my boss got so stupid, in the last couple of years. We LIVE for the numbers and NOT the CUSTOMER! We cover time instead of true customer service. The customer is the Shareholder through truly investing in the company by buying it's product or service...shareholders of paper should get what they pay for the lip service of that paper. Just a thought....We are in the computer age and the computer now dictates how much we do and how much we make....sad what do I need all those pencil pushing managers for then if they neither "push a pencil" nor have need for a brain to make a decision. The "portal" does it all now. I don't even get a check anymore and everyday I need to talk to my Boss less and less everyday...landlines become extinct how about MANAGEMENT.????READ the email on the board you are NEXT! Sigma sixed!!!!! | |
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