GTE Workers Protest Their Suspensions

Employees suspended earlier this week from General Telephone’s Latino assistance center responded Tuesday by saying that they were only following company practices by aggressively selling optional phone services to Spanish-speaking customers.

The workers at the Language Assistance Center in Mar Vista, GTE’s only service center for Spanish-speaking customers in California, said they were made “scapegoats” for the company’s sales tactics and had not violated any internal procedures.

“The emphasis is always on sales,” said Arturo Rodriguez, one of 20 workers placed on indefinite suspension Monday. “They wanted us to sell, sell, sell.”

At issue is whether employees aggressively marketed services such as call waiting, three-way calling and call forwarding, as they contend, or enrolled consumers in those services without their permission, as the company has alleged.

Employees said they plan to picket the center on Washington Boulevard this morning to proclaim their innocence.

GTE said Monday that it had uncovered what it believed to be widespread abuse affecting potentially thousands of Spanish-speaking customers who were enrolled in the optional services. All six of the center’s managers, including its top director, were temporarily relieved of their duties.

The workers did not receive commissions for selling call waiting and the other services, but they were eligible for “bonus points” that could be exchanged for prizes including vacation cruises, bicycles and coffee mugs.