CWA Activists picket MetroPCS Shareholder Meeting for Job Security

MetroPCS shareholders on Wednesday approved a deal to merge with T-Mobile USA, clearing the final hurdle to combining the companies. But it wasn’t done quietly.

CWA activists leafleted shareholders outside the special meeting in Richardson, Texas, urging them to hold MetroPCS to its promises to the Federal Communications Commission not to lay off workers, keep jobs in the United States and improve customer service.

There’s already cause for concern: MetroPCS currently outsources 100 percent of its customer service work to overseas call centers. Last year, T-Mobile USA closed seven U.S. call centers, affecting 3,300 workers; the Labor Department certified that affected workers were entitled to trade adjustment assistance because T-Mobile USA offshored the work to the Philippines and Central America.

The deal combines T-Mobile’s 30,000 employees and 33.2 million customers with MetroPCS’s 3,700 workers and 9.3 million customers.