Multinational conglomerate AT&T is continuing to layoff American workers across the United States after raking in billions in additional profits from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Despite enjoying a $20 billion tax windfall from President Donald Trump and the GOP’s tax cuts in late 2017, AT&T executives are starting off the new year by laying off hundreds of Americans and potentially thousands by the end of the year.
In Syracuse, New York, about 150 Americans will lose their jobs as AT&T closes a call center. In December 2018, the corporation closed call centers in Indianapolis, Indiana; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Appleton, Wisconsin, leaving hundreds and potentially thousands of Americans without jobs.
Last year alone, AT&T eliminated nearly 12,000 Americans’ jobs, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union asserts. Meanwhile, AT&T executives claimed they would invest their tax cut savings into creating 7,000 middle-class jobs for Americans.
CWA union officials said that while AT&T has reported massive profits and received billions from the 2017 tax cut, the corporation has continued outsourcing Americans’ jobs to foreign countries like Mexico, India, and the Phillippines.
“AT&T continues to earn astronomical profits and those profits are not being invested in the communities that it serves and the workers who provide that service,” CWA President Chris Shelton said in a statement. “Americans handed over $20 billion in tax cuts to AT&T because CEO Randall Stephenson promised to invest in America and create jobs. All that AT&T has created is dividends for its wealthy shareholders. We were misled, and Congress should investigate.”
Though AT&T executives refuse to say how many Americans will lose their jobs in the latest layoffs this year, they are confirming the layoffs with officials noting that the layoffs will continue for the next few months.
In layoff postings online, some American workers laid off by AT&T said they had been with the company for more than 20 years, and despite that loyalty, they did not receive the same from executives.
“I was released this round,” one AT&T worker wrote. “I’ve got 22 years, worked my butt off the last 3 years to comply with a lot of efforts. When I heard the rumors just before Thanksgiving I updated my resume and started applying. No hits yet, but I’m keeping that positive attitude, you have to right?”
Another American worker yet to be impacted by the layoffs said executives have left them in the dark about the future of the company.
“People are getting laid off left and right with no logic or pattern, we are not informed in what direction the major projects at the company are heading, no info on the way we’ll be doing business, or even about how long do we get to keep our jobs, and yet the company expect to get the absolute best performance from the employees,” the worker wrote. “It doesn’t work that way. A stressed out and angry worker can’t be at his best.”
While laying off American workers, AT&T has attempted to outsource about 875 U.S. jobs to foreign workers by importing them to the country through the H-1B visa program over the last three years.
Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa and allowed to stay for up to six years. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News. More than 85,000 Americans a year potentially lose their jobs to foreign labor through the H-1B visa program.
In 2018, AT&T reported a net profit of about $19 billion with executives expecting a free cash flow of $26 billion this year. Similarly, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has earned an annual salary of about $29 million despite the layoffs of thousands of Americans.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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