General Telephone to Cut Jobs : Thousand Oaks Firm Also Changing Name
General Telephone Co. of California said Wednesday that it plans to trim 1,100 of its present 22,000 jobs and change its corporate name in the coming year.
Coincidentally, Pacific Telesis reported that about 3,000 managers at Pacific Bell and about 30 at the parent company have accepted an early retirement incentive program and will leave their jobs Dec. 31. That management-thinning program was announced last September and, spokeswoman Diane Olberg said, exceeded expectations by more than 500.
In announcing its job-reduction plan, General Telephone said it reached agreement with the Communications Workers of America to offer incentives to 3,000 of its union-represented hourly employees, seeking to induce them to step down voluntarily. The aim is to trim 720 jobs, in certain classifications, without having to resort to involuntary layoffs, spokesman Tom Leweck said.
Lower Staffing Goals
Eligible employees have until Jan. 5 to decide whether to accept the inducements, which include a package of benefits worth up to $23,840, for those with at least 20 years of service and are at least 56 years old, or up to 36 weeks of pay, plus retraining or relocation costs up to $2,700, Leweck said. Both packages include a six-month extension of medical benefits.
A similar offer, Leweck added, will be made to management employees next month, seeking a 400-job reduction in that sector.
If the voluntary efforts fail, the company said, employees and managers will be laid off until the lower staffing goals are reached.
As for the name change, which has been an open secret for several months, the company will officially become GTE California on New Year’s Day. The change is designed to strengthen the phone company’s identification with its parent company, GTE Corp.
The Thousand Oaks firm, which provides local telephone service along the Southern California coast and much of its arid interior, attributed the need to cut payroll to a number of factors, including improved productivity from a conversion to digital switches, heightened competition for local service and increased government restrictions on services.
