AT&T to keep call center open three more months

Instead of closing its Charleston call service center on June 20, AT&T has agreed to keep its 99 union employees working until Sept. 11.

Last week John Polumbo, AT&T president and chief executive officer, wrote Gov. Bob Wise that the call center would close as scheduled on June 20.

Wise, along with the Communication Workers of America and U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Robert C. Byrd, both D-W.Va., have been lobbying AT&T feverishly to keep the center open.

Union officials have said that Charleston employees, almost all telephone operators, could begin to coordinate teleconferencing, answer customer questions through e-mail and handle other states’ local phone traffic.

AT&T officials originally rejected those arguments but have apparently changed their minds, at least temporarily.

“We all believe that West Virginia is the best place to keep these operators jobs, not only for West Virginia but for AT&T as well,” Wise said in a statement.

Union officials say closing the center will save the company $3.9 million a year.