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To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (1653)	5/19/1999 6:34:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

* IBM CORP, nearly twice the size of its nearest rival in revenues, is poised to recapture the intellectual leadership of the technology industry as well, its chairman said on Tuesday. Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting in Miami, Louis Gerstner, IBM's chairman and CEO, thanked investors and employees for sticking with the computer maker through the tough times in the early 1990s. Gerstner said, "...we're a company that can look forward to the future and say with confidence that our aspiration, our goal and our plan, is to move to the head of the pack -- in market leadership, thought leadership and technological leadership." (Reuters 07:51 PM ET 04/27/99) For the full text story, see infobeat.com

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (1653)	5/19/1999 6:45:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

AT&T to cut 2% of workforce; save $200 million annually 07:03 PM ET 04/30/99 AT&T, union in talks over proposed job cuts By Nicole Volpe NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. plans to cut 2,400 to 3,000 technicians jobs, about 2 percent of its total workforce, in a bid to save the No. 1 U.S. phone company $200 million a year, the technicians' union said Friday. The Communications Workers of America, which began talks on the matter with AT&T on Thursday, said in a statement that the planned cuts represent half or more of all the skilled technicians who monitor and maintain AT&T's network. An AT&T spokesman confirmed the general range of job cuts. "That sounds like a ballpark," AT&T spokesman Burke Stinson told Reuters when asked about the figure cited by the CWA. AT&T employs about 140,000 people worldwide. The CWA accused AT&T of jeopardizing the quality of its network as it moves to become a player in the cable TV industry through acquisitions of major cable system operators. AT&T is now the No. 2 cable company after acquiring Tele-Communications Inc. and has launched a $58 billion unsolicited bid to buy MediaOne Group Inc., the nation's third largest cable company. "By cutting the jobs of the skilled employees responsible for the high quality service customers have come to expect, AT&T is degrading the quality of its network, the morale of its employees, and above all, a reputation that has made it among the most profitable companies in the industry," the union said in its statement. "When AT&T purchased cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., we hoped that AT&T would elevate the inferior quality of the cable companies," the CWA said. "What we didn't expect is that AT&T instead would lower its own standards as it continues to invest tens of billions of dollars in an effort to dominate that industry." Stinson disagreed with the union's contention that the move would harm network quality, calling the accusation "union rhetoric." "A lot of that work has been mechanized and computerized," he said. AT&T does not expect to take any charges for the job cuts, which Stinson said would primarily effect the technicians who service the company's telephone network. Departures could begin as early as this summer, he said. The jobs at issue are spread out through most states, with two major centers in Georgia and Texas, Stinson said. The company's current proposal involves offering voluntary buyouts, with severance packages topping out, depending on seniority, at up to 104 weeks pay. "Those are things that are already in our contract, those are things the union has already won," said CWA spokeswoman Candice Johnson. Stinson acknowledged there were aspects of the company's proposal that went outside of union contract parameters, but he declined to specify what they were. "If anything, they'll make the offer more attractive," he said. AT&T last week said it expected more cost cutting to follow its projected $2 billion in expense reductions next year, but did not provide any details. It announced the cost cuts at the same time it unveiled its bid for MediaOne . Stinson could not say how long talks might last. "We barely have our toe in the tub here," he said. Johnson said the union was not currently considering any actions other than negotiations with company executives. "We're still trying to sit down with the company to see what it is they are trying to do," she said. ((--New York Newsdesk (212) 859-1700))