Maine Workers Fight Back By Videos as T-Mobile Cuts Promised Jobs

Jobs at a T-Mobile call center in Oakland, Maine, have been disappearing at a rapid rate over the past six months, and current and former employees are speaking up about it in a video released on YouTube.  About 300 jobs have been cut this year, a 40 percent reduction in the 750 workers the center employed at the end of 2010, CWA Local 1400 Executive Vice President Keri Evinson said.  

Like T-Mobile workers across the United States, employees at the Oakland call center have tried to organize. Despite international pressure on T-Mobile to respect its workers' rights, the company continues to wage an aggressive and illegal anti-union campaign.

Now, workers say the company has also broken promises it made to Maine and the city of Oakland. "When T-Mobile came into this area it was considered a big break for this area because for a long time now it's been in downturn," Sarah Watson says on the video. "They were given a lot of tax incentives and tax breaks because they said they were going to hire a lot of employees."

"They promised a huge amount of good paying jobs with benefits," Adam Stanley says, as coworkers talk about fears that they might have to leave Maine to find work, and worry whether they'll need Food Stamps or public assistance.

A pastor in the video says his church has seen more people in need of aid recently, and businesses are concerned, too, according to a story by a Portland, Maine, TV news station.

"Local business owners say they've already noticed a difference with the loss of those employees," the station reports on its website. "If the call center does go under, they say it could be detrimental to the area, not just Oakland."

Noting the 300 jobs already lost, the report says, "400 more jobs could be hanging in the balance without the AT&T merger."

Read more about CWA's campaigns at T-Mobile at www.weworkbettertogether.org.