GTE Chooses Oxnard for New Office Site; Will Add 650 Jobs

GTE California announced Thursday that it will establish a customer service center in Oxnard, a move that will bring 650 jobs to a city reeling from a spate of plant closures and job losses in recent years.

Executives of the Thousand Oaks-based telephone company said they chose Oxnard because it is close to the company’s Thousand Oaks headquarters and because local officials aggressively recruited the firm.

GTE will transfer 250 of its employees to the new center and hire 400 new workers to staff the facility, which will consolidate work done at a number of GTE offices throughout Southern California.

Employees will schedule service calls and handle customer inquiries.

Although there will be no layoffs as a result of the consolidation, GTE will close nine service centers in Southern California, including facilities in Huntington Beach, Cerritos and Pomona. Employees at those centers will be given the option of relocating.

Oxnard officials see GTE’s decision as the result of the city’s longstanding efforts to lure new businesses. Oxnard has lost an estimated 2,000 jobs in the past five years.

“This is a major conquest, and I think GTE now will become the nucleus for a lot of other activity in the area,” Oxnard City Councilman Mike Pliksy said Thursday.