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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: 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.

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  • (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.

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    • (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.