New layoffs can be expected at T-Mobile (News - Alert) USA – with the latest round at the company’s headquarters in Bellevue, Wash.
The Seattle Times was the first to report the layoffs and how they will take place before the company’s predicted merger with MetroPCS.
More than a hundred employees could lose their jobs – including many in the marketing department. T-Mobile declined to comment on the news.
Despite layoffs in other locations, so far the company’s Bellevue headquarters has avoided job losses. Meanwhile, T-Mobile has reserved conference rooms in its headquarters for “integration” meetings on Thursday, news reports said. Such meetings typify layoffs in American companies – in an effort to lessen their impact on the employees.
Layoffs are not new for the company. During 2012, more than 4,200 jobs were eliminated by T-Mobile USA. Some 3,300 of these were at company call centers and 900 in other offices.
Looking ahead, other jobs could be eliminated after the possible merger with MetroPCS. However, parties have asked the FCC (News - Alert) to force the company to preserve jobs. The Communications Workers of America has also asked that jobs be kept if the merger goes through, and predicted “large numbers of job losses.”
So far, the U.S. Department of Justice has not tried to stop the merger because of antitrust issues. It fought a prior merger plan with AT&T (News - Alert) – which led to its defeat.
But there is also speculation that the merger between T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS may be blocked by other means – with some MetroPCS shareholders opposed to the deal. MetroPCS shareholders will meet on April 12 about the merger. The merger needs approvals from the FCC and the Committee on Foreign Investment.
T-Mobile had some 36,000 employees in the United States in 2012. Last year, T-Mobile said “restructuring our organization will help us better respond to market and customer demands,” Techzone360 reported.