Global telecommunications giant AT&T announced plans Friday to close three call centers in Meriden, resulting in the loss of 89 local jobs.
The company informally told affected workers on Friday they would be terminated unless they relocated to AT&T offices in Brentwood, Tenn., or Atlanta, Ga., according to labor union Communications Workers-America (CWA). A formal declaration regarding the move will be delivered to employees on March 15, CWA said.
AT&T will begin transitioning call center operations, each located at 84 Deerfield Lane, over the coming months, said David Weidlich, president of CWA Local 1298.
“These are jobs in state that have excellent wages, benefits and pensions,” Weidlich said Monday. “I would really like AT&T to reconsider their decision, but I’m not hopeful they will.”
Despite the relocation, AT&T said it will still have a Meriden presence as a majority of employees assigned to the location will not be affected, an AT&T spokeswoman said Monday. But Weidlich said those workers are mainly field technicians assigned to the Deerfield Lane site.
In a statement, AT&T said it’s consolidating work in Meriden to “increase efficiency.” Impacted workers will be offered a job at either facility and a $20,000 relocation allowance. Severance packages will also be available for those declining to relocate.
“We hope as many of the affected employees as possible choose to stay with the company,” AT&T said. “Any who decline the relocation offer have the opportunity to seek other jobs within the company.”
Workers who are CWA Local 1298 members will be joined by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday morning to protest the Meriden closures, demanding AT&T explain why it’s closing the centers that ensure reliability of 911 networks across 22 states.
“AT&T should have to explain why it’s rolling out closure after closure, and upending lives of workers who’ve given the company so much,” Weidlich said. “AT&T is profitable, there’s plenty of work to do in the company and no good reason why these jobs need to be moved out of Connecticut.”
In addition to local jobs being lost, Weidlich expressed concern that closing the Meriden site would harm “critical” 911 services across the country.
But AT&T officials said “there will be no impact to public safety in the state of Connecticut or elsewhere” as many employees working on 911 systems operate remotely.
“In fact, we’ve found that larger centers with more employees are more effective, which is one reason we’re consolidating this work,” a spokeswoman said.
Monday’s protest begins Monday at 10 a.m. at AT&T’s corporate offices in Meriden.
This story has been updated to include comments from AT&T