SBC faces (up to 20,000) job cuts, analyst says

[UpInArms]

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/business/10102844.htm

SBC Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. local-phone company, may cut as many as 20,000 jobs to reduce costs in its declining wireline business, Lehman Bros. analyst Blake Bath wrote in a note to clients.

SBC has too many employees for the number of local-access lines it has, Bath said in an interview. SBC has about 29 employees per 10,000 local lines, more than the industry average of 25, he said. The San Antonio-based company could save $600 million to $1.2 billion a year by reducing its work force by 10,000 to 20,000, Bath wrote.

Chief executive Edward Whitacre has counted on attrition to eliminate jobs as employees retire, quit or die, and by moving work from declining businesses to growing ones. He has cut more than 7,000 jobs in the past year through attrition. That remains SBC's policy, company spokesman Walt Sharp said.

<snip>

SBC and its local-telephone competitors are losing local- phone customers to wireless and Internet-based phone services. SBC customers disconnected 654,000 lines in the third quarter, leaving the company with 52.9 million. SBC is making up for the losses by expanding other products, such as fast Internet access over DSL and accelerating plans to build a fiber-optic network to deliver video.

...more...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. The South...

Receives its reward for going red. Thus begins the real agenda.

[toopers]

3. Actually, SBC is in the mid west

[UpInArms]

5. and did you see the sea of red throughout the midwest?

:shakesheadsadly:

[rfkrocks]

2. Maybe no jobs but at least there are no gay marriages

who needs a job anyway-its the ownership society-they own you!

[Kierkegaard]

6. And they are going to have to feed me, shelter me and look after

my health as a result. Gotta keeps your slaves in shape!

[JennC]

4. Remove enough job options and you will get warm bodies for your....

"All Volunteer" military.

[durablend]

7. Who needs a job?

Jobs take up too much free time that could be better spent in church.

These people should be greatful.

[llmart]

8. Oh, cry me a river......

My pat question from here on in to job loss stories and the increase in the cost of living, cost of gasoline, etc. etc. etc. is going to be "Did you vote for Bush? Yes? Well, stop your fucking whining and get away from me. You asked for it. Did you vote for Kerry? Then I'm sorry; you have my deepest sympathies."

I have no sympathy for the ignorant people in this country.

[byronm]

9. Time for more "liberal" media

i'm not talking about lefttalk or air-america - i'm talking about a progressive, balanced and fair news channel.

We need mixes of the matt drudges, the limbaughs and the fox news channels to compete.

Lets get on the ball so news gets out there.

[devilgrrl]

10. Who gives a shit, they're out of Missouri which went Bush - fuck 'em!

SBC will cut jobs but pay their CEO Ed Whitaker 19 million. Hey Missouri! You voted for it!

[Weezy]

12. I care

I am a 20 year employee of Illinois Bell/Ameritech/SBC. I expect to be unemployed the day before Christmas. SBC is, after all based in San Antonio, TX. Friends of * country. But there are a lot of us that are part of this company that do not live in a RED state.

Since I am so stupid that I am losing my job, maybe I can get a Pell grant to go Community College so I can get one of "them 21st Century jobs". I am also going to be practicing saying "would you like fries with that?"

I didn't vote red, I am in the Midwest & we are pretty Democratic here in Chicago. Those of us with a lot of seniority & experience are being pushed out. I am not being laid off, I am not being fired either. That allows SBC to pay me 1/2 of the severance they would normally have to pay as well. Hiring of outside contractors & overseas outsourcing are a big part of the problem.

[smirkymonkey]

15. I am so sorry to hear that. It's unfortunate that people like you

- people living in red states who didn't vote for the Chimp - are having to suffer the ramifications of his campaign of corporate greed.

It's so difficult, we all just want to lash out in anger and frustration, but unfortunately our blanket condemnations end up tarring innocent victims. Best of luck to you.

[kysrsoze]

17. Hey, Weezy. I'm part of SBC too, and I live in a Blue state.

I'm also out of Chicago. I have a comrade at work, I guess.

SBC has plenty of Blue employees in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and California. People in this company work hard, but the jobs siguation is a mess. Too many contractors and too many overseas people. I'm sorry to hear about your job loss. Look for something else at the company. They're still hiring in some areas of the company.

At least they're trying to do as much as they can with attrition. Regardless, they're getting rid of lots of people just like any other large corporation. Get used to it.

I made a point to donate to the local PAC, but not the national PAC because they don't support my viewpoint or job at the national level.

[UpInArms]

14. yes, Missouri went red -

too many fools that cannot find their ass with both hands.

[RPM]

11. More post-election layoffs?

Will get uglier before it gets better.

[VegasWolf]

13. Who needs a job? - Let them eat Jesus!

[conflictgirl]

16. My husband works for SBC here in Michigan, and we totally saw this coming.

Being through 2 job layoffs in 5 years kind of gives one the ability to smell them in the air. And there aren't many other jobs here in Michigan, and now with Bush in office again, there will be even fewer. Man this sucks. x(

[leesa]

18. It's what America wants.