CenturyLink Cutting Hundreds of Jobs in Latest Workforce Assessment
CenturyLink will shed more than 300 employees companywide by the end of May, including 150 of the more than 2,000 workers in Minnesota.
CenturyLink spokesman Mark Molzen confirmed the layoffs, saying “based on continuous assessment of our business needs and workforce alignment, we are reducing our field operations workforce by approximately 310 employees.” The last work day for these employees will be May 29.
CenturyLink;s Mark Molzen
These workers perform installation and repair, as well as central office duties, he said.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represent about 25% of CenturyLink’s workers.
“While raking in billions in taxpayer dollars, CenturyLink has tried to evade its service quality obligations, laying off hundreds of experienced workers in the process,” said Brenda Roberts, CWA’s District 7 vice president. “CenturyLink’s job cuts are harmful to employees, their families and communities nationwide – and not to mention – bad for business. CenturyLink is sending a clear message to the families and businesses it serves that providing reliable phone service and standing up for its employees are their last priorities.”
CenturyLink’s workforce totaled about 43,000 employees globally as of the end of last year.
Thousands of CenturyLink workers lost their jobs in 2018 in the aftermath of it finalizing its $34 billion Level 3 Communications acquisition.
In its 2017 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CenturyLink said it had 52,500 employees after its Level 3 acquisition was completed. In its 2018 annual report, the company said it had about 45,000 employees. It included no explanation for the job cuts.
centurylink “level 3” is not trying to save money or reduce head count, they are gutting the Union and replacing it with contractors. In some cases even before the Union employees last day. They hold back work to justify cuts, transfer responsibilities to non union employees and are creating a hostile work environment in order to push union employees to Jump Ship. All the reorganizing over the last few years has misplaced employees working in titles they are unfamiliar with. Routine maintenance, repair and customer service is being neglected in ways nobody has seen before. Even supervisors and managers are at wits end. The number of non union employees has grown while union employees are eliminated. If this is what shareholders want then great, Nice job. But I too am a shareholder and a member of my community, and what this company is doing to employees, customers and the public is no better that slamming, gouging or poor customer service. It’s a tragedy.
” Routine maintenance, repair and customer service is being neglected in ways nobody has seen before”
I’m a 25-year customer of this organization, and you are absolutely spot-on. LUMN is a slow-moving train wreck, bleeding 5% revenue a year because their customer service sucks, their ability to deliver services sucks, BUT IT’S ALL OKAY BECAUSE WE’RE “MAKING MONEY BY FIRING EVERYONE”.