AT&T Lays Off Up to 1400 Employees Just Before Christmas Up to 1400 AT&T employees are getting coal in their stocking courtesy of AT&T. The installers tell the New York Post they received pink slips despite numerous promises by AT&T that it's dedicated to "creating jobs" thanks to the death of net neutrality and a lower tax rate courtesy of the Trump administration. The layoffs come as AT&T begins shifting its attention from traditional TV delivery methods (DirecTV satellite, AT&T IPTV), and toward streaming video services like DirecTV Now. AT&T is also planning another new, wireless-centric streaming video effort to be launched sometime in the new year.

The cuts came just as AT&T was busy promising it would create jobs in the wake of the Trump administration's new tax plan, which prioritizes giving tax breaks to giant companies like AT&T. "We adjust our workforce based on changing market dynamics, which vary from region to region," AT&T says of the cuts. "In some regions we are hiring these same resources and many of the affected employees have the opportunity to transfer to those locations. Those who are unable to find another job with the company will receive severance benefits." This isn't likely to be the last of cutbacks at the company's traditional video operations. The company has stopped directing new customers to the company's IPTV service, formerly known as U-Verse TV. It's likely only a matter of time before that service is shelved completely, allowing AT&T to repurpose IPTV bandwidth to help it increase broadband speeds in fiber to the node and VDSL markets. While originally reports indicated 700 layoffs, some AT&T workers indicate to DSLReports.com that this number is being under-reported by as much as half. "Just in the Southwest region we had 700 legacy AT&T employees get surplussed or laid off," says the worker. "I think reports from all districts put it close to 1400 or so just for the AT&T side." AT&T appears to have tried to hide the layoffs beneath the announcement that the company was doling out $1,000 bonuses thanks to, allegedly, the GOP's tax plan (which dramatically reduces AT&T's base tax rate) and the repeal of net neutrality. But some industry observers noticed that at least part of the bonuses were actually tied to the But some industry observers noticed that at least part of the bonuses were actually tied to the recent deal AT&T struck with its union employees . Others highlight that while nice, a $1,000 bonus isn't the same as a real raise, and is likely a pittance when compared to the billions in additional revenue AT&T will glean from the net neutrality repeal, the repeal of broadband privacy rules, and the significantly lower tax rate AT&T will enjoy in the decades to come courtesy of the Trump administration.







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Most recommended from 150 comments

davidhoffman

Premium Member

join:2009-11-19

Warner Robins, GA 41 recommendations davidhoffman Premium Member AT&T layoffs I knew that $1000 dollar bonus announcement had to be a distraction action.

"Ladies, gentlemen, boys, and girls please watch the sparkly balloons over here." While I cut your cousin's throat over there. DnEtDe6c

join:2007-02-02

Athens, GA 30 recommendations DnEtDe6c Member Fired the wrong people The handwriting was already on the wall concerning the decline of conventional TV at the time the DTV acquisition occurred. The ones getting canned should be the AT&T execs who were flimflammed into grossly overpaying for DTV. But of course that's not the way the world works.



Farewell installers. We have bonuses to give out.

kdwycha

join:2003-01-30

Ruskin, FL 23 recommendations kdwycha Member Hmm So I guess these installers will not be receiving the 1000.00 bonus AT&T announced saving the company 700K dollars. joshh20

join:2012-12-19 12 recommendations joshh20 Member Merry Christmas? Sad to see that the installers are the ones taking the fall for DirecTV's failure to compete with OTT services.

crankkiller

join:2011-03-14

Greenwood, IN 10 recommendations crankkiller Member Not just DIRECTV people Its not just DIRECTV that getting the layoffs, AT&T technicians are losing jobs as well. I know of 150 in California, a bunch in TX, and at least 50 in IN just received the news last Friday. Historically AT&T has done these layoffs by seniority, but not this time. They have let some go by seniority (lower first) and some based on a combination of attendance and metrics.... Merry Christmas from the Death Star.



Oh and if your one of those lucky few to go you have 3 weeks to find another job within the company or your off payroll.....

chuch

join:2001-04-11

Tampa, FL 10 recommendations chuch Member I can't stand it... All this winning is just maddening! Mr Man

join:2015-07-29

Spring Hill, FL 9 recommendations Mr Man Member Why not reassign them?? It makes no sense to do this. Installers have similar skills and can cross train into other aspects of the business. Unless AT&T is canning an older force to impose lower wages on the backfill, which is totally illegal and I believe is happening, they just keep showing their asses just like other telecommunications companies looking to pay their upper echelons. Way to go AT&T; you SUCK! raythompsontn

join:2001-01-11

Oliver Springs, TN 9 recommendations raythompsontn Member Say What? "DirecTV installers got goal in their stocking..."



Seriously? They got a goal? Amazing.

CBLMorphis

join:2001-02-25

Riverside, CA 8 recommendations CBLMorphis Member AT&T Sucks Before the thugs bought them out the service was excellent, but really sucks now. The other night I had a problem and I called them and they were closed? I remember I could call them anytime but now I can't.



Thinking of dumping my service and go cord cutting totally.



Raised prices and lesser service for sh*ty service.

Ut98Ex

join:2012-07-11

Georgetown, TX 6 recommendations Ut98Ex Member So much winning... I wonder how many of these installers voted to make america great again? If they did I will say to them "Merry Christmas" (since dear orange leader claims that thanks to him we can now say this again). Maybe they can get one of those fancy new high paying coal jobs that are all the rage with the republican party....

Anon28c87

@hcs.net 5 recommendations Anon28c87 Anon DirecTV sucks "This isn't likely to be the last of cutbacks at the company's traditional video operations. The company has stopped directing new customers to the company's IPTV service, formerly known as U-Verse TV. It's likely only a matter of time before that service is shelved completely, allowing AT&T to repurpose IPTV bandwidth to help it increase broadband speeds in fiber to the node and VDSL markets."



A rainy/cloudy day still makes the signal lousy with the satellite when are these people going to learn. What a poor marketing decision to do away with IPTV, which in itself was and is a great TV platform. Kman

join:2017-06-08 4 recommendations Kman Member Smart Business Decision If I was running AT&T I'd do the same thing. I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but as a business decision this makes sense. Why have so many DirecTV installers when nobody is signing up for the service? They can't keep paying people when they have no work for them. Hopefully AT&T will keep their promise and create jobs in other parts of the company.



This is a result of cord-cutting, it has nothing to do with Donald Trump. This site has an obvious anti-Trump bias. dlewis23

join:2005-04-18

Boca Raton, FL 3 recommendations dlewis23 Member The DirecTV Now push is coming. It sucks that people will loose jobs but, we kind of already knew this was going to happen. DirecTV Now is the replacement for both U-Verse TV and satellite DirecTV and AT&T is going to make a huge push with in 2018.



I have been using the beta of DTVNow 2.0, its a ton better, PQ is better with H.265, the DVR works somewhat and is getting better. Next year they have 4K HDR and more steams coming. Once that happens I think a lot of people will switch over.