MCI Lays Off 4,000, Cites Do Not Call List

Yahoo! News ^ | March 26, 2004 | MATTHEW BARAKAT

[El Conservador]

McLEAN, Va. - Bankrupt telecommunications company MCI said Friday it is cutting 4,000 jobs — more than 7 percent of its work force — and closing three call centers because of cost-cutting pressures and fallout from the national Do Not Call registry.

The company had announced in January that it was expecting to reduce overall costs by 15 percent to 20 percent, but did not mention specifically that jobs would be cut.

The centers being closed are located in Denver, Phoenix and Niles, Ohio. Jobs are also being reduced at MCI facilities in Alpharetta, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo. and Springfield, Mo.

"As a result of the impact of federal and state 'Do Not Call' laws, as well as ongoing telecom market trends, we need to take this action in order to improve our overall cost structure," the company said in a statement. "These actions will in no way impact our ability to serve our customers."

MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, is hoping to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of April. It entered bankruptcy in July 2002 after an accounting scandal that resulted in billions of dollars in overstated profits and criminal charges against its top executives.

MCI employs about 54,000 workers. In Phoenix, about 850 workers will lose their jobs. In Denver, about 950 will be laid off and 650 workers will be laid off at the Niles call center, according to the company. Layoff numbers for the other three centers were not available.

The cuts will take effect in May and June.

MCI still operates 15 telemarketing and customer-service centers across the country, a company official said.

MCI has sought to reduce its annual costs by 15 to 20 percent while in bankruptcy. Earlier this year, the company announced that it expects revenue to drop 10 to 12 percent in 2004 — including a drop of as much as 25 percent in the domestic long-distance market, where MCI is the nation's second-largest provider. Company officials said increased use of cell phones, industry competition and effects from national Do Not Call legislation all contribute to the decline.

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On the Net:

www.mci.com

[El Conservador]

Headline should read:

MCI Lays Off 4,000, Cites Bernie Ebbers

[BigSkyFreeper]

MCI is the most crooked telephone company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

[Izzy Dunne]

These actions will in no way impact our ability to serve our customers

So they admit that they had 4000 useless people on the payroll...

[rocky88]

While I feel for those that lost their jobs, I am really enjoying not having these clowns call me.

[Atlas Sneezed]

So they admit that they had 4000 useless people on the payroll...

---

Amen. Perhaps 4000 people now looking for PRODUCTIVE jobs will enhance the economy.

[lelio]

I'm waiting for an article in the Times of India "MCI to hire 4000"

[BigSkyFreeper]

I don't feel sorry for any of them. There's plenty of other jobs in the Want Ads waiting to be filled that would instantly raise them up the ladder of success.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Me too. That'll be proof they were useless.

[Gator113]

Ditto!!!!!!!

[Sally'sConcerns]

I placed myself on the national Do Not Call list specificly because of MCI.

I received a call during the day from some guy with MCI who whas trying to sell me on MCI's long distance servive. I requested nicely he place me on their Do Not Call List. He told me he wouldn't do it and would call me whenever he wanted to. Over the next 2 weeks, he called twice to three times a day.

I know it was him because this man had a very distinctive voice. He'd call, breathe heavily and hang-up. He always called around the same times each day. After 3 days of heavy breath phone calls I took to ansering the phone in different ways. Instead of saying hello I'd say "This phone call is being traced" or "Operator, this is a call which needs to be traced". The guy would always be caught unaware and say something in response to how I answered the phone. That's how I knew it was him since he had a baritone voice.

I finally had to subscribe to Privacy Manager and the phone calls stopped. I also signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry where I'm hopefully not bothered again.

[pointsal]

Bad experience.....Bernie Ebbers.....

[BigSkyFreeper]

Before the Do Not Call List went into effect, I got a call from some gal purported to be from MCI's Customer Service Center, who called to say something was wrong with my phone, and I said, "You're right, MCI is not my long distance provider", and hung up.

[gatorgriz]

I don't miss the uninvited cold calls at all... Lets move on to the spammers shall we? Put them into more productive occupations too...

[mhking]

I refuse to believe that they had 4000 people calling other people...

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

MCI is the most crooked telephone company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

MCI charged me for calls that did not go though. I was calling overseas and they weren't home so the phone would ring about eight times and then I would hang up. This went on for about a week, they were out of town and I called on a daily basis because I urgently needed to get a hold of them.

Finally got through but imagine my surprise when I got my phone bill and I had 9 calls listed. I ended up paying the bill, over $90.00 and promptly switched to someone else.

Before I use MCI I will resort to two tin cans and a piece of string!

[DC native]

MCI plagued me with phone calls about three times a day, but the strange thing was that I was already a customer of theirs. I asked them to place me on their do not call list, but the calls continued until my teenaged son finally gave one of them an earful of his opinion. No more calls.

[samantha]

Don't forget that their spokesman was Danny Glover while he as trashing America in Cuba with Fidel. I gave them ample opportunity to clean up their act,and they refused and I dumped them. I wish I had done it sooner,they were horrible about billing,etc.

[BigSkyFreeper]

My folks had that happen to them, for domestic calls. MCI even went so far as to charge more for the call if the call had to route through AT&T's network. They got their bill, called MCI, switched providers, but not before demanding a refund.

[upchuck]

"This is all the fault of the damn Do Not Call Registry. If it weren't for you stupid people and your silly need for privacy, we wouldn't be loosing our jobs.

"We are working very hard trying to figure some way to blame this layoff on President Bush."