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AT&T Backs Out of Consumer Market
AT&T's plan to abandon the residential telephone market - both local and long distance - and to stop competing for small business customers in some markets is the latest in a long list of bad decisions costly for workers and shareholders, CWA leaders say.
"This company has squandered some very valuable resources, particularly the skilled workers who provide quality customer service and who have developed and maintained its network, as well as the opportunity to provide the bundled services that consumers clearly want," said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
About a thousand AT&T telemarketing workers will lose their jobs, and the company acknowledges its decision will have a "a significant impact" on other employees.
Regarding the company's plan to no longer compete for business clients in some markets, Maly told AT&T that CWA won't allow the company to "pit our members, center by center, against each other."
"If AT&T wants our help, it must begin an open and honest dialogue," he said. "But we will not sit idly by while AT&T destroys our members' jobs."
Starting in the late 1990s, AT&T spent $110 billion buying cable, wireless and local service companies to transform itself into an all service provider.
"CWA stressed that this was the most effective strategy for success at AT&T, and in fact, actively supported AT&T in this strategy," Maly said. This was exactly the route the rest of the industry took." But, AT&T soon decided to break apart the company, selling off wireless in 2001 and cable a year later, and splitting apart its business and consumer operations. "Now, AT&T talks again about offering wireless and VoIP - Voice over the Internet Protocol - but it doesn't appear to have an effective plan for marketing either of these services," Maly said.
AT&T began the move to abandon support for consumer services several years ago when it sold off the "00" operator services and closed operator and customer care centers, shifting some of that work offshore and costing thousands of jobs. The company also continues to cut the jobs of skilled technicians who maintain the network, a short-sighted move that Maly says will cause problems for the infrastructure that many communications systems depend on.
Established in 1885, American Telephone & Telegraph was the nation's principal telephone company for about 100 years. In 1913, it became a government-approved monopoly, providing local and long distance service and enabling independent companies to connect to its network.
In 1984, as a result of the government's anti-trust lawsuit, AT&T kept only long distance and equipment manufacturing; local service was to be provided by independent regional Bell companies. In 1996, AT&T spun off Lucent Technologies and NCR, a computer manufacturer it purchased in 1991.
"This company has squandered some very valuable resources, particularly the skilled workers who provide quality customer service and who have developed and maintained its network, as well as the opportunity to provide the bundled services that consumers clearly want," said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
About a thousand AT&T telemarketing workers will lose their jobs, and the company acknowledges its decision will have a "a significant impact" on other employees.
Regarding the company's plan to no longer compete for business clients in some markets, Maly told AT&T that CWA won't allow the company to "pit our members, center by center, against each other."
"If AT&T wants our help, it must begin an open and honest dialogue," he said. "But we will not sit idly by while AT&T destroys our members' jobs."
Starting in the late 1990s, AT&T spent $110 billion buying cable, wireless and local service companies to transform itself into an all service provider.
"CWA stressed that this was the most effective strategy for success at AT&T, and in fact, actively supported AT&T in this strategy," Maly said. This was exactly the route the rest of the industry took." But, AT&T soon decided to break apart the company, selling off wireless in 2001 and cable a year later, and splitting apart its business and consumer operations. "Now, AT&T talks again about offering wireless and VoIP - Voice over the Internet Protocol - but it doesn't appear to have an effective plan for marketing either of these services," Maly said.
AT&T began the move to abandon support for consumer services several years ago when it sold off the "00" operator services and closed operator and customer care centers, shifting some of that work offshore and costing thousands of jobs. The company also continues to cut the jobs of skilled technicians who maintain the network, a short-sighted move that Maly says will cause problems for the infrastructure that many communications systems depend on.
Established in 1885, American Telephone & Telegraph was the nation's principal telephone company for about 100 years. In 1913, it became a government-approved monopoly, providing local and long distance service and enabling independent companies to connect to its network.
In 1984, as a result of the government's anti-trust lawsuit, AT&T kept only long distance and equipment manufacturing; local service was to be provided by independent regional Bell companies. In 1996, AT&T spun off Lucent Technologies and NCR, a computer manufacturer it purchased in 1991.