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CenturyTel to Lay Off 18 Local Call Center Workers
POSTED 2:46pm 11/29/10 Over a dozen workers at the local phone company will still have jobs over the holidays -- but not for long after that.

CenturyTel says they are laying off 18 workers at its Galesburg call center at the end of January, and that the workers were notified last Monday. Company Market Development Manager Jack Moore says the 18 answered calls from customers who needed service help and had other issues.

Moore tells WGIL the reason for the layoffs: the company just needs to do business better.

"The center's closing is part of the company's overall plan to improve costs and gain operational efficiencies, by consolidating centers," Moore said. "This consolidation allows the company to streamline customer service, and capture the synergies enabled by the merger of Embarq and CenturyTel."

The company is also in the midst of merging with Qwest Communications, and Moore says while that's still pending regulatory approval, it had nothing to do with the layoffs.

A call center in Pekin will not be affected by the closure, and Moore says customers shouldn't be affected either.

All 18 workers, he says, are being given the chance to apply elsewhere within the company, but will receive severance packages if they don't.


(The CenturyTel office on Cherry St. in Galesburg, in a 2008 WGIL News File Photo.)
11 29 10 by Newsroom
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