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SBC Communications Inc. has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs in response to intensifying competition in the telecommunications industry. The plans include the consolidation of 52 call centers into 15 locations at the former Southwestern Bell subsidiary. SBCs work force of 165,000 is heavily unionized, including almost 12,000 members of IBEW Local 21 in Illinois and Northwestern Indiana, employed by the company since 1998 when it acquired Ameritech and over one thousand members in California.

The IBEW represents members who perform inside and outside jobs, including technicians, linemen, wiremen, cable splicers, sales, marketing and clerical personnel and directory sales.

Ronald Kastner, Local 21 President-Business Manager says: At this time, it appears that IBEW Local 21 may have no loss of jobs. But Kastner says that the consolidation of call centers could still result in a hardship for many SBC workers. Among our members, says Kastner are many single and/or working mothers who live and work in the City of Chicago. If jobs are moved to more rural locations, travel time and costs could be a real problem for them.

While Kastner and the membership remain hopeful that no layoffs will take place, the recent history at SBC gives rise to concern. In 2001 over 500 SBC members were put on the street in one of the first layoffs in the old Bell system. This year, SBC DataComm, a subsidiary employing about 100 IBEW members under a separate agreement, cut 16 IBEW jobs. Local 21 has challenged both layoffs in United States District Court, maintaining that the company violated understandings on the contracting out of work.

Driving the work force changes at SBC, a traditional telephone service provider is the wildfire growth of competing phone services that use wireless, Internet and cable technologies.

The Chicago Tribune reports that SBC ran 37 million phone lines into residences and 23.6 million lines into businesses in 2000. Now, both of those figures are down 25 percent, as cell phone and Internet usage have replaced SBC lines.

The Tribune further reports that some consumer studies predict that within five years, the growth of households exclusively using wireless phones, currently at 9 percent, could reach 30 percent. SBC already has significant investment in cellular technology with its 60 percent share of Cingular Wireless. Bell South owns the remaining 40 percent.

SBCs management contends that pending job cuts are calculated to produce cost savings to finance company plans to invest billions of dollars in cable TV ventures.

The heavily unionized companys move to the less organized cable sector is a challenge to organized labor. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has 100,000 members employed at SBC. Both unions recently concluded negotiations with the company on new five-year agreements.

The IBEW and the CWA have already combined forces in a strategic campaign to organize the nations largest cable TV firm, Comcast Inc. to increase bargaining leverage in the sector.

IBEW Local 21 maintains a newswire to keep members informed about developments at SBC and other firms. The newswire can be reached at 630-415-2711.

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