MCI To Lay-off 2,400

New York Post ^ | 8/21/2003 | BEN SILVERMAN

[retrokitten]

August 21, 2003 -- Embattled telecom giant MCI will lay off about 2,400 workers in the next three months as the company's battle to stay alive gets tougher each day. The first round of layoffs will be announced on Aug. 29, with subsequent layoffs announced in September and October, sources familiar with the situation told The Post.

Although the company declined to comment on any workforce reduction, MCI did say its restructuring continues.

"As we continue to restructure our operations to better position the company going forward, including improved integration and automating certain functions, we expect to continue to add and reduce workforce positions as needed," MCI spokeswoman Claire Hassett said. "As a result, we expect to maintain an average employee base of approximately 55,000 from now till year's end."

[retrokitten]

rest of the article........

Sorry if this was already posted, I did a search and didn't see it...

[Orangedog]

Looks like that 2nd half recovery will be pushed off to next year....again! (flame away...I wore my asbestos shorts today!)

[fuzzthatwuz]

More MCI layoffs? I am sure that Bernie Ebbers feels their pain!

[harpseal]

ping On or off let me know

[harpseal]

While more layoffs at MCI were to be expected this does nothing for the immediate short term recovery.

Structural provblems remain in the US Economy. Here is a plan addressing those

In no particular order of importance.

1. Get rid of government subsidies for offshore investment of US companies. OPIC is the first such program which should go but support of World Bank programs that subsidize the outflow of Capital would be another.

2. Use tariffs on those nations which are engaged in unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation (China and India for example), those nations which refuse to open their markets to US products (China for example with its 50% tariffs on US consumer goods and non tariff barriers), those nations that subsidize competition to American Industry (airbus for example) and those nations which have slave conditions for their workers.

3. Use tariffs and other means to prevent the relocation of jobs offshore that are essential to the national defense. If necessary take control of the company seeking to export vital technology or industry by means of eminent domain (No I do not like this last option and I will only defend its use as an absolute last resort like say in the case of rare earth magnets essential to smart bomb technology). Provide a hardened, widely distributed infrastructure to supply all that is needed for our military units and civil defense that can be continued to be deployed in the event of any military attack.

4. An immediate end to guest worker programs. If people wish to come to the USA to work and make a life let them immigrate according to the rules.

5 Provide economic development zones where the corporate income tax is zero for operations within these zones. In order to operate in this zone a company must agree to only purchase American components if available and employ only American citizens or legal immigrants in these operations. These economic development zones shall be eventually be expanded to include every bit of every state once the benefits are shown I would like them to be totally implemented immediately but I realize4 that may be overreaching.

6. Scale back unnecessary regulation including the tort system. Institute a cap on punitive damages, limits on class action suits, and limits on liability to the actual percentage of liability with no plaintiff able to collect if said plaintiff was involved in the commission of a felony at the time of the alleged tort or was more than 49% negligent in the alleged tort. Note that the loser in a frivolous lawsuit shall pay the attorney fees of the winner. There are many other regulatory structures that also need to be included that need to be included such as repealing the Family leave mandate, getting rid of OSHA etc.

7. Increase the domestic content in purchases by the Department of defense and give absolute preference in non-domestic content to proven allies of the USA over say the French or Germans. The only reason any content for DOD purchase may come from non US allies is that content is not available elsewhere and is essential.

8. Do not allow expense involved in moving operations overseas to be included in business expenses under the IRS code.

9. Prosecute for perjury anyone who has made a false statement in order to employ an H1B or L1 visa worker. I will be lenient on the actual perjurer if he/she was ordered to make this false statement and he/she provides testimony to aid in the conviction of the person ordering the perjury. Just because a person is a CEO does not give them a pass on criminal behavior.

10. Prosecute anyone who orders the transfer of vital defense technology or funds a R&D project that could be of use to our military overseas except to strong allies of the USA. Make the necessary enhancements to our espionage laws so that continued support or funding of any R&D in a nation whose government has threatened the USA is guilty of espionage. The UK and Australia come to mind as meeting these criteria for being eligible for transfer of technology first. There will be other nations and a gradation of what can be transferred to which specific nation. Under no circumstances may technology be transferred to any nation whose government has threatened the USA within five years without a complete change of government or specific exemption from Congress and the administration.

11. Deport all illegal aliens immediately and take measures that prevent the entry of any more illegal aliens. Fine all companies knowingly employing illegal aliens Criminal sanctions should be imposed on anyone helping an illegal alien stay in the USA in violation of our laws.

12. Decrease the punishing levels of taxation on companies and eliminate the double taxation on corporate dividends. See effects of item 5 for how minimal this will be if item 5 covers the entire USA. Eliminate all IRS provisions that inhibit free use of independent contractors by businesses for example section 1706.

13. Eliminate the minimum wage so that the worker can be paid based on productivity. Overtime compensation will remain the same but instead of 150% of the "wage" the worker would receive 150% of the production pay. If one through 13 are enacted # 14 becomes an irrelevancy as no one will be working for that low a wage.

Now since I started posting this plan another idea has come up that in my opinion is a very good policy that stands on its own.

“I suggest that the US Customs Department charge a $1,000-per-container inspection fee on every container entering the United States. This fee would be used to completely fund the cost of inspections. If we assumed that a four-man team could fully inspect two containers a day or about 500 per year, it would require 48,000 inspectors. Allowing for at least 2,000 support personnel, we would need at least 50,000 workers. Because these workers would require high intelligence and skill levels they should earn at least $30 per hour. At 40-hour weeks plus benefits, I estimate the cost per worker to be over $75,000 per year, all paid by the foreign manufacturers. Even so, this would still leave over $2.25 billion to cover all other costs. Any revenue not used would be used to compensate American workers displaced by foreign imports. “

I urge and encourage everyone who agrees with this plan and or the terror tariff idea to communicate this to every politician you can think of.

[Hank Rearden]

They're the Herpes of Phone Companies; have been trying to dump them off my account for months and the evil, crooked bastards won't go away!

Die, MCI, DIE!

[Hodar]

The telecommunications industry is in deep, deep trouble. Bush didn't kill it, technology did. With widespread cell service available, for less money and more features than a land line; the future for Ma Bell is dim. For $39/month, I get every feature known to man, the convenience to talk when/where I want, and NO LONG DISTANCE.

Then, there are companies that interconnect your existing telephone system in your house, through the cable modem, to the telephone system in whatever area you want to call; thus you can use your home phone for nationwide unlimited long distance. And international calls are like 3 cents/min. And, should you travel, you simply take this company's box with you, connect it to a cablemodem and your phone travels with you. Call your neighbors from Sweden, for free. Or, have your telephone number transfer from the telephone system to this system, or change the area code of one of your home phones so that customers (or kids in college) can call home without a long distance bill.

Technology, not the economy has killed the telecommunications industry. I wouldn't be planning on investing my retirement in AT&T, Sprint or the others if I were you.

[lelio]

Agree 100%. Plus I think MCI should just be killed off -- there's a huge glut in the telecom industry. To keep a company around after bankruptcy after it caused so much trouble with its fraud is a slap in the face to those that play by the rules.

Why on earth would you want to run a company in an ethical manner when you can point to MCI and say "Look at how cheaters are rewarded"

[ChromeDome]

Yes, but all you mentioned still relies on phone lines (especially cell service). Granted, I'm not sure MCI actually owns many phone lines, but if there aren't any companies around to maintain the phone infrastructure many of the things you identified won't exist (or will be diminished in performance).

-ChromeDome

[Hodar]

... but if there aren't any companies around to maintain the phone infrastructure many of the things you identified won't exist (or will be diminished in performance).

This is my point exactly. The only purpose future telecommunications companies will serve is to maintain the fiber optic network. There is very little 'growth' in servicing and installing new networks, as the networks can grow exponentially by simply adding a microwave tower. One cell tower services how many cell phone users? In their heyday, the phone companies served one client at a time; and their rates reflected this. Now, you serve tens of thousands of customers with a single tower, yet they have chosen to maintain the same business structure. This is a failing strategy.

[dogbyte12]

I have a sneaking feeling that 2,400 Indians will suddenly find jobs at a call center in New Dehli, working for MCI.

[ChromeDome]

The only purpose future telecommunications companies will serve is to maintain the fiber optic network

Would a company enter the market just to provide "maintenance"? Doesn't seem like there would be much profit motive in that < shrugs> but I'm not a business major.

as the networks can grow exponentially by simply adding a microwave tower.

They are limited in growth based on the bandwidth available. They FCC has allocated certain frequencies to cell traffic. Those frequencies are then subdivided among those in the market (I think you can have 8 PCS providers in a single region). So at some point, adding another tower adds nothing (except redundancy which isn't a bad thing) unless the FCC opens more of the spectrum to cell providers.

I'm not disagreeing on the demise of traditional telecoms, but there are definite potholes down the road. Outside of large cities, cell service can be spotty. Additionally, I don't think cell providers have the redundancy in their networks that landline telecoms have. I'm sure this will improve over time, but I'm not ready to rely on cell providers just yet.

Also, I think cell based communications are a potential security issue too. If its radiated, it can be jammed or intercepted.

[Hodar]

Would a company enter the market just to provide "maintenance"?

No, but the existing companies will 'contract' to this level. I think it is inevitable

They FCC has allocated certain frequencies to cell traffic.

True, but these frequencies can easily be scaled to a non-constricted frequency range, and transmitted and scaled back down. Technology will continue to improve; and with this continuing to grow, more and more will be done with less and less. Heck, one fiber-optic line replaces how many thousand copper lines?

Also, I think cell based communications are a potential security issue too. If its radiated, it can be jammed or intercepted.

This is a 'yeah, but...' answer. Phone lines can be cut. A radiated noise that disrupts cell service can be traced, and the culprit charged. Also, as technology gets better and better, not only range but transmission rates will improve. It used to be that 900 MHz phones were considered the best that can be done, now we have 2 GHz phones ... I'm unaware of any real-life limits here.

[Concentrate]

Cell phones don't work during power outages, as we found out.

[BlackbirdSST]

Looks like that 2nd half recovery will be pushed off to next year....again!

Oh come on, what about the Tax Cut's? /sarcasmextreme

[discostu]

MCI is the worst run of the LD companies (most expensive, lowest quality, highest down time). The fact they survived this long can only be ascribed to devine intervention. Don't use them as a thermometer for the economy, poorly run companies go out of business in the best of times.

[Orangedog]

Oh come on, what about the Tax Cut's? /sarcasmextreme

Yeah, the extra $30/month went away in higher property taxes, cable tv increases, added surcharges on my cell phone for new FCC regulations and home/auto insurance. In fact, those went up more than I get in tax cuts.

[Orangedog]

Yes, but the well run US companies (IBM, HP, etc) move a lot of their jobs out of the country. Any new jobs created here are more than offset by the number of jobs going overseas. Before it was the factory workers, now it's IT jobs.

[discostu]

not according to the latest stats. The problem is bad news is loud, especially when the press can pin it all on a GOP president. According to the actual numbers both factory workers and IT workers are holding pretty steady. IT dug itself a big hole with the dot.com meltdown and hasn't actually started crawling out but it's not getting deeper. Factory production is doing well.

[Orangedog]

I don't know what stats you're looking at, but the number of jobs has decreased. The claims of "lower unemployment" just means that there were less people filing for first time unemployment claims.