Robert Reich: AT&T is laying off thousands of workers at beginning of the year without severance pay

[demmiblue]

Last edited Tue Dec 31, 2019, 03:03 PM - Edit history (1)

AT&T is laying off thousands of workers at beginning of the year without severance pay.

Instead, the employees will have to train their foreign replacements.

At the same time, the company saved $3B thanks to Trump's tax cuts.

Trickle down economics is a cruel joke.

Link to tweet

Edit to add replacement tweet (I don't know why he deleted it):

Link to tweet

[BSdetect]

1. Are they in a union? Probably not.

[klook]

19. Some are -- mostly the landline techs, cable installers, call center employees, etc.

Not the "knowledge workers," e.g. IT personnel, middle managers, and other desk jockeys. This will hurt a lot of people, but it's nothing unusual for AT&T. They have several rounds of layoffs every year.

I hear about this from a couple of friends who work there. Typical heartless multinational corporation with a CEO who got where he is the old fashioned way -- marrying the boss's daughter!

[tritsofme]

28. AT&T actually has the largest union workforce of any private company in America.

Though I would imagine these are largely management positions.

[Doremus]

2. I don't work for AT&T but this will have a direct impact on me and everyone on DU

The people losing their jobs will have less to spend on food, shelter, other necessities like vehicles, clothing, utilities, etc. Their discretionary money will evaporate. No more movies, nights out, restaurant meals and other fun expenditures that make life worth living.

We're all connected. Their lack of spending is going to be felt by everyone, either directly or indirectly when it reverberates through all the layers of the economy.


Fuck the oligarchs. They are going to kill us if we let them.

[DBoon]

36. ... and AT&T service will suck even more

as they lose experienced workers and replace them with low paid outsourced temps.

[Sherman A1]

3. Hope that the CEO got a nice Christmas Bonus

[Bettie]

18. He'll probably get an even bigger one

when he cuts the payroll.

[onecaliberal]

4. So much winning, trump keeps all his promises.

And just in case it’s necessary.

[essme]

5. Is the link working?

I also can't find an article

[demmiblue]

10. Thanks for the heads up.

Here is an article from Axios:

https://www.axios.com/trump-att-outsourcing-h1b-visa-foreign-workers-1f26cd20-664a-4b5f-a2e3-361c8d2af502.html

[essme]

12. Thank you

Holy crap, I feel so bad for those folks

[TheFarseer]

40. Wow

They didn’t stop with firing these folks. They really were assholes about it and just rubbed their faces in it.

[Takket]

6. Remember this pile of bullshit?

https://thinkprogress.org/att-praises-tax-bill-c4bab31e1067/

AT&’s latest announcement comes on the heels of a December 14 agreement struck between the company and the Communications Workers of America. The union agreement, if signed by January 12, will afford 21,000 CWA union member employees a 10 percent raise and a $1,000 lump sum, in addition to the special $1,000 bonus announced this week.

However, a CWA spokesperson noted in an email to ThinkProgress that AT&T executives had agreed to the special bonus only after CWA argued that its employees should be given the “$4,000 wage increase promised by the Republican corporate tax cut.” CWA officials also reached out to CEOs at other corporations where its members work, like Verizon and American Airlines, to make their case.

“Republican leaders have promised that households would receive on average, a yearly $4,000 wage increase,” they wrote. “They also claimed that the corporate tax plan would produce new jobs in the U.S. as companies return work from offshore.”

They added that the $1,000 bonus was “a drop in the bucket compared to what was promised.”

[turbinetree]

21. You know what I miss Think Progress...........................

[appalachiablue]

27. Same here, I used to read Think Progress regularly.

[turbinetree]

31. I really wish the power's to be would bring it back.....................somehow.................

[rickyhall]

41. Or tax the shit out of 'em.

Remember when corporations had to pay taxes or hire more workers or give raises or benefits? BR - Before Raygun?

Isn't deregulation a wonderful thing? NOT!

[turbinetree]

42. Yepper spot on.............................

voodoo economics / trickle down economics........................

[lpbk2713]

7. I hope they don't have any large medical expenditures.

Unexpected medical expenses can put low/no income people out in the street in no time.

[George II]

8. Reich deleted his tweet.

[lapucelle]

32. The Axios story is pretty sketchy as to details,

but Jonathan Swan and Stef Kight tweeted about it yesterday. Axios hasn't posted any documents yet.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[George II]

34. Axios is the only outlet reporting this.

[Brother Buzz]

9. That tweet has gone gone missing, but he gave us a heads up just over a year ago

AT&T call centers are already overseas.

Link to tweet

?lang=en

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. And the brick and mortar stores are very close to useless.

They are down right predatory in their customer service. They contradict one another.

AT&T is a disgrace and everybody hates them. We need our reps on this.

Just tweeted mine:

Link to tweet

?s=19

[3Hotdogs]

11. Ex worked at Dun & Bradstreet. Her job was outsourced to India. Honcho got a BIG bonus.

They flew about 20 replacements from India to be trained. My ex and her team had to train them. Replacement company said, act like grown-ups, you get paid + pension for the time you work for us.


That was about 10 years ago. When the transition took place, workers were given option of buyout or a pension. Her choice was 5K or $500 per month. She took the pension. So far, she has collected over 60k.

Then came the fuck-up. Indian workers didn't know about the ramifications from U.S. holidays. Major fuck-ups when D & B customers didn't get their data on time. D & B sued the company and company's contract was terminated.

BUT the honcho to organized the switch got a bonus of a couple of million even though it all turned to shit for D & B.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

13. Why isn't the Democratic House on this and

Screaming about it? Point out "Voodoo economics at work has hollowed out the workforce and Republicans reward big companies with tax cuts that hurt us even more.

Formulate a talking point and pass it on.

[LiberalArkie]

24. They all own stock and some are on the boards of these companies. They benefit like

the rest of the wealthy,

[bdamomma]

15. if I hear one freaking repig

mentioning the American people and doing the peoples business I will scream, cause they don't give a crap about the American people.

Those big companies and CEO's are raking in the money from those tax cuts damn them all.

[smirkymonkey]

16. This makes me absolutely furious! And we can expect more of this the longer

Trump stays in office. All of these companies got huge windfalls in the way of tax cuts and what do they do? No hiring, no raises. They buy back stock to jack up price per share and give the people at the top huge bonuses. The worst of them like AT&T lay people off because of their abominable greed.

[dalton99a]

17. Kick

[Lucky Luciano]

20. Who trains their replacement without severance? I'm confused?!

[JHB]

30. People who can't afford to walk away from a paycheck

Given a choice of "your last day is today" and "your last day is weeks/months from now", a lot of people's circumstances will cause them to choose to keep the steady (for now) income.

This is especially the case if, instead of a traditional "$x for years here" package, they dangle a "completion bonus" in front of them. "Stay on until the end, and you get an extra (/insert pittance). Leave a day earlier, and you kiss that extra cushion goodby."

Health insurance is also a big factor.

[Lucky Luciano]

33. But I thought this was the best economy in the history of the world.

They can just walk in any company and be offered a higher wage for three different jobs?

That’s what the orange guy said anyway.

[JHB]

35. You can take what the orange guy says to the bank

They're not going to put anything in your account for it, but you can take it there.

[turbinetree]

22. While on the other side of the tracks of this 170 Billion dollar, corporation that is suppose to be

entitled to be classed as a human we have the 2018 annual report.................and in big blue wording the K-filing as this propaganda...................... piece ....................




"We intend to capitalize on this changing landscape as a modern media company built to delight our customers with new services . . . ”

https://investors.att.com/~/media/Files/A/ATT-IR/financial-reports/annual-reports/2018/complete-2018-annual-report.pdf

-snip-

and you can just see how the stock buy back worked and to add further insult to the American economy they paid fucking zilch in taxes.........................

Based on the supplementary disclosures in AT&T's most recent annual report, the analysis shows that AT&T's worldwide cash income tax payments in 2018 were less than zero. In fact, AT&T says after refunds, it enjoyed a net tax rebate of $354 million in 2018.Mar 26, 2019

https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/annual-report-suggests-att-paid-no-cash-income-taxes-in-2018-and-slashed-capital

The maga bullshit is alive and well...................................

[spike jones]

23. Remember back to the Patriot Act's Fascist requirements when AT&T was All Talk &Tell.

[AllaN01Bear]

25. started with ronald ray gun hasnt and still dosent work.

[Mr.Bill]

26. Then they'll probably raise the rates

on Direct TV and AT&T Internet. Every month I'm already sending them what amounts to a car payment for those two services.

[snowybirdie]

29. Glad I don't use them

Don't have to cancel service. This is outrageous! But get the word out, it's almost 2020 and an Election Year.

[lpbk2713]

37. I worked with the Cricket Help Desk about two months ago.

They are an AT&T subsidiary.

The tech worked with me for over an hour to get the problem fixed. She knew her
stuff and she wouldn't give up. I hope she is not one of the employees affected.

[evertonfc]

38. I wouldn't

train a damn soul.

[flying_wahini]

39. Time to drop AT&T if you still have it.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

44. I truly intend to.

What options are there that are better?

[TexasTowelie]

43. Only a few weeks ago I was accused of spreading right wing talking points

when I said that corporations won't repatriate assets to the U.S. or will move jobs and assets offshore if there was a huge tax increase. I was wrong, they are moving the jobs offshore without the tax increase. Oh well.