Really? I mean, really?
Yesterday, 1,900 T-Mobile employees got some very bad news — they would all soon be out of jobs, as the company announced their intention to shut down seven call centers. That in and of itself is a shame, but AT&T’s reaction to the announcement is even more shameful.
You see, AT&T’s Jim Cicconi (their Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs, no less) took to the company’s public policy blog to say that “AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved.”
Don’t you see? AT&T could’ve saved those jobs, if only the merger was approved! This didn’t need to happen!
Please.
“We also predicted that if the merger failed, T-Mobile would be forced into major layoffs,” he went on to say. “At that time, the current FCC not only rejected our pledges and predictions, they also questioned our credibility.”
I’ve read the thing a few times, and I sort of get where Mr. Cicconi is coming from — the FCC called them out specifically on their stance on the merger creating jobs, and AT&T was (sadly) correct in this case.
But really, Mr. Cicconi, 1,900 people just found out they would be out of a job in three months. Did you really, honestly think that this was the best opportunity to give the FCC an “I told you so?” It apparently almost didn’t happen, as Mr. Cicconi notes that the company wouldn’t comment on a matter like this. Methinks you should’ve gone with the standard protocol on this one, Jim.
AT&T doesn’t always occupy the most favorable spot in consumers’ minds (their performance in the J.D. Power service rankings speak rather nicely to that), and shit like this doesn’t help their case at all.
[hat tip to The Verge]