THOUSAND OAKS : GTE to Cut 350 Jobs, Consolidate Others

GTE California will cut about 350 hourly jobs and reduce its contract positions as part of an ongoing job consolidation, company officials announced Friday.

The reductions, which will affect clerical and some technical positions, will be made statewide through attrition, buyouts and layoffs, officials said.

“This has almost become business as usual at our company,” said Larry Cox, manager of public affairs for the Thousand Oaks-based company. “We have been downsizing for several years.”

GTE California, a subsidiary of the Stamford, Conn.-based GTE Corp., employs about 10,074 hourly workers. The communications company serves about 3.1 million customers in 330 communities in California. The cutbacks will not be concentrated in any one community, Cox said.

The reduction of positions is largely driven by competition and technological advances that allow the company to operate with fewer people, Cox said.

“The benefits of technology are allowing us to do a better job with less employees,” he said.

Additionally, as of Jan. 1, 1995, the company will begin to compete with about 100 companies vying for a lucrative market in long-distance telephone service, Cox said.

The last day of work for GTE employees who have not found other positions within the company or accepted one of two buyout packages will be Nov. 15.

The number of layoffs will depend on how many employees can be transferred to open positions and how many take buyouts. “We probably won’t know for a couple of weeks what the bottom line will be,” Cox said.