Sprint to Close Illinois Center, Cut 1,000 Jobs
Posted on: Friday, 4 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
Jun. 5--KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In its continuing campaign to cut costs, Sprint Corp. on Friday confirmed it will close a suburban Chicago call center later this summer.
The move, which Sprint announced Thursday to affected employees, will eliminate 1,000 jobs by Aug. 3.
Sprint's confirmation Friday of the job cuts coincided with the Labor Department's announcement that although U.S. job creation numbers were improving overall, the telecommunications industry continued to be a weak spot.
Jennifer Walsh, a Sprint spokeswoman, said the call center in Bolingbrook, Ill., was selected for closing because of its relatively high operating costs.
Calls handled by the center will be absorbed into eight other Sprint call centers, including one in Lenexa. Vendor-operated call centers also will handle some of the calls.
Walsh said all the calls would be handled by U.S.-based call centers.
Sprint did not specify how much money it would save by closing the center. That information will be provided when the company announces quarterly earnings, Walsh said.
At the Bolingbrook center, which opened in 1999, employees answer calls from customers wanting to find out about their wireless bills, their telephones or other issues related to their wireless phone service.
Walsh said employees would have the opportunity to move to other call centers. Sprint will also make career counseling services available and pay the laid-off employees severance, Walsh said.
She would not say whether the cuts might cause Sprint to add jobs elsewhere.
After this closing, Sprint will have 10 call centers, which handle both wireless and long-distance calls. In addition, the company has some call centers dedicated to its local phone division.
Sprint, which along with the rest of the telecommunications industry has been fighting through a trying economy to improve its business outlook, has shed more than 20,000 jobs since October 2001.
The company has 65,000 employees companywide, including about 18,000 in the Kansas City area.
On Friday, shares of Sprint stock rose 10 cents, closing at $17.27.
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