More Lay Offs By Telecommunications Giant AT&T
Yesterday’s article “Payday loans Are Up, Available jobs are down | Want to keep you job? Here’s How”, spoke of the number of layoffs that the nation has been seeing do to the current recession America has been undergoing since December of 2007.
AT&T adds to America’s Layoff Statistics
12,000 more layoffs added to AT&T's Pink List.
Numbers have gone up another notch today as AT&T announced today the layoff of about 12,000 employees or 4% of it’s total workforce. This comes on top of the 4600 jobs that they said they would layoff last April.
AT&T, a telecommunication company based in Dallas, Texas provides phone coverage in 22 states is just one in a long list of companies cutting staff, closing their doors, or going bankrupt.
Why The Lay Offs?
Their seems to be more than a couple things working against the telecommunications company as there basic land based phone line customers have dropped eleven percent in just the last quarter alone.
Many customers who have been subscribing to both a wireless carrier as well as a home based land line service, are beginning to leave their landlines behind for their wireless cell phone plans. This is likely to be influenced by both, customers looking to save a little extra money in a troubled economy and well as a simple preference in the technology and features that the wireless services provide.
Consumers Throwing Out The Old And Ushering In The New
With the onset of the latest cell phone features and services, as well as the increasingly affordable cell phone packages and family plans, consumers are seeing the wireless route to be to their advantage. Ditching the landlines is simply the next step in today’s digital world.
AT&T, understands this well as they have been on the digital front line for many years. They also offer cell phone services and broadband internet access which the company says it will be continuing to fill positions for. It’s this diversification in today’s advances which keeps the company profitable even though their shares have gone down 35% in 2008 alone. The company may be in need of payday loans if this keeps up.
AT&T's contract with Apple as the sole wireless carrier is undoubtedly helping them brave the storm
iPhone Helps AT&T Brave The Economic Landslide
One of the greatest acquisitions they were able to make recently was that of the popular mobile carrier, Cingular Wireless. Now AT&T, the front runner in the wireless community, continues their campaign out front b benefiting some from the relationship they nurture with Apple, as AT&T is the official wireless carrier of the popular iPhone which consequently, everyone has “Got to have”. The advent of AT&T’s 3G Network has also helped by giving consumers broad band speeds for voice over their mobile devices for voice and data communications.
AT&T’s marketing prowess and front runner technology may be their saving grace over the next 18 to 24 months of predicted economic restraints.
AT&T To Provide Laid Off Employees with a $600 million dollar Severance Package
Of those who have been laid off by the technology giant, many have guaranteed jobs because of union contracts which means AT&T will have to pay severance to all affected workers under the terms of their union agreements. AT&T estimates to pay $600 million in the fourth quarter for severance costs.
AT&T is just one in a long list of employees that have made cuts this year, pushing unemployment rates up from 6.5% to 6.8% nationally. You can view a list of several companies doing the same in the blog post “Recession Has Consumers Seeking Solace In Payday Loans | Is A Great Depression Coming”
I was laid off from att yesterday. There is no rhyme or reason. I was informed that my job was being done at a low cost center,,off shore so good by to me. This is extemely hard.
Of coure this comes right at the holidays.
As one of the AT&T employees being cut I can tell you this is beyond anything I expected. My whole department is being eliminated. For my husband and myself to purchase the cobra health insurance it would be 957.88 a month. My severence won’t cover that very long. Most of us feel this is just the folks at the top getting richer.
The rise of the unemployment rate is drastic. Major retail stores and other major manufacturers are definitely feeling the economy blow. This article is just one out of the thousands of other stories I’ve read. Sad, sad time in America’s economy.
It’s hard to believe that even a company as big as AT&T didn’t budget a head that the economy was heading down this route we all saw it coming maybe not that it would be such a long recession but everyone predicted, as history shows that once we reach on all time high we go the other direction and reach on all time low. I really hope well for all of those people being laid off at AT&T.
Wow. Even with the iPhone craze, more and more people switching to wireless phones in lieu of ordinary house phones, AT&T is still having that large of problems? Incredible. I hope the severance package they’re giving to their employees getting cut can cover their holiday costs.
Job cuts are really out of control. The critical step now is to identify companies out there who are providing opportunities in these tough times. Here’s a pretty good site that specially unites these employers to save main street – http://www.jobstaxi.com/savemainstreet
All the best to everyone at AT&T.