Qwest Asks Workers To Take Unpaid Leave

keloland ^

[chance33_98]

Qwest Asks Workers To Take Unpaid Leave 

Qwest Communications International Inc. has asked employees to take unpaid leave as the No. 4 U.S. local telephone company tries to cut costs and pare its $26 billion debt load.

Qwest, which has about 57,000 workers, said the voluntary program would run from July 1 through the end of September. No employees will be forced to take unpaid leave and the company had no total savings target for the program, Qwest spokesman Tyler Gronbach said.

The program, which grew from an idea submitted through an employee suggestion box, is open to management and union workers. Supervisors will approve time off based on the needs of the business, Gronbach said. It is the first time the company has offered unpaid leave.

The Denver-based company has been under pressure in recent months as it scrambled to relieve a cash crunch, saw its debt rating slashed to "junk" status, put assets up for sale, and faced an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Merrill Lynch on Friday cut its intermediate-term and long-term investment ratings on Qwest to "reduce/sell" from "neutral." Shares of Qwest shed 3 cents, or 1.09 percent, to $2.73 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Yahoo.com

[Fast 1975]

Unpaid Leave

That's atrocious! They are not even going to pay these people while they are not working- Isn't there some kind of federal law violated here? I hope the Senate will take up some hearings on this, and get some legislation passed.

[Cable225]

They have 57,000 employees.

Having being laid off from a telecom late last year (along with 4000 of my closest friends) I feel confident in saying that if the choice was unpaid leave across the board for everybody or face layoffs, the employees should volunteer for this like Qwest was handing out free cookies.

However, since they're just offering unpaid leave on a voluntary basis, it should be avoided en masse.

It just means the layoffs are coming and no one is saying anything yet. All taking a few weeks off will do make you expendable, and put you higher on the list of who goes first. Since the layoffs are going to happen anyway, I say let management figure out the dead pool themselves.

[chance33_98]

You didn't work for Winstar did you ;)

[dtel]

I am an old Winstar hand.
Wonder how many of us are around this board.

[dennisw]

ATT will emerge on top from this telecom wreckage. Just stating my humble opinion I have no dog in this hunt.

[thepitts]

By all means lets get uncle sam involved.

[dtel]

As long as they haven't played funny business with the books, I would have to agree. One would also think some of the RBOC's will pull through, but certainly not all.
Old money at work here.

[The Great RJ]

I am a former Qwest customer and while I feel sorry for the displaced workers, Qwest deserves its financial plight. Qwest raised prices and provided poor service. I was very happy to switch my local phone service from Qwest to my local cable TV company as it dropped my monthly bill by $19 for the same service plan and provides me with some of the best customer service I have ever experienced. Qwest also dropped the ball on providing broadband Internet service. The plan they offered was overpriced and technologically inferior to comparable cable plans.

[chance33_98]

I am an old Winstar hand. Wonder how many of us are around this board.

Good to see you! I was around with them until last month. Glad to be out of that hell hole, found a new, better, job a few days before my final day there. I always wondered why they did not ivestigate our old bosses...

[ohmage]

Back in the seventies, as a Bell of Pennsylvania employee and familiar with the pictures of congested cable runs of the early days of telephony, I had this suspicion that the 'breakup' would just lead to another telecom 'makeup' with AT&T leading the pack.

I guess the next step is government backing/approval.

[dtel]

I have wondered the same thing myself.
I know for a fact they were cooking numbers, maybe they just happened to slip under the radar for now.
The last one I worked for, Velocita, seemed to be founded on the fraud theory.
If somebody does not go to jail over all this thievery, we truly must be on our last legs as a country.
As someone said earlier, it'll be Mad Max-ian.