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posted by Fnord666 on Friday June 21 2019, @12:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the business-as-usual dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

AT&T Lays Off Thousands After Nabbing Billions In Tax Breaks And Regulatory Favors

Back in November of 2017 AT&T promised that if it received a tax break from the Trump administration, it would invest an additional $1 billion back into its network and employees. At the time, CEO Randall Stephenson proclaimed that "every billion dollars AT&T invests is 7,000 hard-hat jobs." Not "entry-level jobs," AT&T promised, but "7,000 jobs of people putting fiber in ground, hard-hat jobs that make $70,000 to $80,000 per year."

Yeah, about that.

The Trump tax cut resulted in AT&T getting billions in immediate tax relief, and roughly $3 billion in tax savings annually, in perpetuity. Yet when it came time for AT&T to re-invest this money back into its network and employees, AT&T actually did the opposite and began laying them off in droves. Unions claim AT&T has laid off an estimated 23,000 workers worldwide since the Trump tax plan, with investors and executives unsurprisingly pocketing the savings. This week, the word came down that AT&T would be laying off thousands more as it wraps up fiber deployment:

"Leaked internal documents confirmed most of the 1,800 planned job cuts. One AT&T surplus declaration shows that more than 900 of the surplus jobs come from the company's Southeast division in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This document attributes most of the cuts to "economic" reasons and some to "technological/operational efficiency."


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 21 2019, @01:46PM (11 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 21 2019, @01:46PM (#858535) Journal

    There are still people who are surprised at this sort of corporate conduct! Shocking!

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  • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by TheGratefulNet on Friday June 21 2019, @02:32PM (9 children)

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Friday June 21 2019, @02:32PM (#858551)

    no matter what, idiots will CONTINUE to vote R, which goes against the little guy even though the little guy is totally convinced by the R's that 'his time will soon come'.

    they are stupid beyond belief. and they have more votes than the smarter sides of the country so we all suffer due to their ignorance.

    this country seem to refuse to win.

    lets just close up shop, send all the remaining money to the fucking R's and give up. it will be less painful that way to just end it all quickly.

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 21 2019, @02:36PM (4 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 21 2019, @02:36PM (#858552) Journal

      So, uhhhh, let me get this straight. You're saying that AT&T has never made any donations to a D candidate? AT&T has never lobbied a D congress critter? And, no D ever voted to give AT&T money by the truckload? It's only R's who do this?

      If that were true, I might consider becoming a D. Unfortunately, it isn't true, so I'll remain Independent.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Friday June 21 2019, @03:41PM (3 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 21 2019, @03:41PM (#858584) Journal

        Corporations (who are people too!) have been known to make donations to both (or all) political sides. They want to be in favor with whoever ends up in power. They don't care about ideology, except for one ideology: money is god, and we want our executives to have all the money they can possibly get, before the shareholders and government can get it.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday June 21 2019, @10:51PM (2 children)

          by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday June 21 2019, @10:51PM (#858682)

          Corporations (who are people too!)...

          I'll believe that when I see one of them go to jail (yes, I saw the sarcasm tag :) ).

          --
          It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
          • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday June 22 2019, @04:41AM

            by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday June 22 2019, @04:41AM (#858774)

            I'd settle for a toe tag....../s

            --
            Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 24 2019, @01:37PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 24 2019, @01:37PM (#859337) Journal

            I use <no-sarcasm> tags when necessary. Not the other way around.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 21 2019, @02:49PM (3 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday June 21 2019, @02:49PM (#858557)

      no matter what, idiots will CONTINUE to vote R

      Idiocy is in the eye of the beholder, but there are deeply imprinted psychological bases which drive some to vote R and some D (and Hollywood to promote I). They say that it's about as unlearnable as sexual preference, and they're developing a brain scan for it.

      The test I saw, a couple of years ago, had a lot of gross-out questions - people who would _never even consider_ doing something they considered repulsive (inflexible much?) were highly correlated with R votes.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday June 22 2019, @05:35AM (2 children)

        by dry (223) on Saturday June 22 2019, @05:35AM (#858783) Journal

        While you're right that political leanings are hard wired to a large degree, it's still a spectrum with a sizeable chunk in the middle who can be swayed either way, or into not voting.
        The other thing I've noticed, at least here in Canada, is the right is much more united and are likely to win the next election due to the centre and left being divided between 3 or 4 parties. Yea for the first past the post bullshit and the lies the right tell to keep it that way.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday June 22 2019, @11:29AM (1 child)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday June 22 2019, @11:29AM (#858811)

          is the right is much more united and are likely to win the next election due to the centre and left being divided

          I think that's based in the hardwired nature of things. The right likes a simple story, even if it's wrong. Do as I say (not as I do), etc. I'm also fairly sure I hate the way the left is trying to make itself a bloc in the US, but, maybe if the center left can get enough power for long enough they can restructure government to get rid of first past the post, gerrymandering, and all the other crap. Not likely, but we can hope. At least we don't have dictator kings put in power by birthright anymore.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday June 22 2019, @04:07PM

            by dry (223) on Saturday June 22 2019, @04:07PM (#858869) Journal

            Well, the right has split up here a few times, extreme right and centre right, the left gets in, and the right freak out, blame all the problems on the left and reunite, usually as more extreme right. Alberta is a good case, 30 years of conservative rule, lowering taxes, giving away resources, not investing. New right wing extreme party splits the vote, socialists actually get in, and all the problems that took decades to manifest blamed on the left, new right wing party that is more extreme created and back in charge, once again believing that they just need to lower taxes and spending to fix things, and of course the problem is 4 years of centre left Federal government not doing what 10 years of right wing government couldn't do.
            As for getting rid of the first past the post system. We've been trying here in BC, 3 referendums so far, with the first 2 having the government being fairly neutral and barely losing, as in 59% for when it took 60%. Then last time, the right has moved further right and tons of fearmonging and it lost worse.
            Federally, it was one of Trudeau's election promises, cancelled not long after as too decisive. Really the parties want majorities so they can pretty well do what they want.
            As for dictator Kings, the last one we had was James the 2nd, who got fired by Parliament. Before that it was Charles the 1st, who lost his head to Parliament. The problem was Parlaiment was and still is partially, run by the rich. Americans like to go on about the dictator George the 3rd, but in truth, it was Parliament that had the power.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 21 2019, @02:46PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday June 21 2019, @02:46PM (#858556)

    Good profit is where you find it, or, more completely [fandom.com].

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]