Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501130112
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
Bell Atlantic Corp. said Thursday it will close a telephone operator service center in Leesburg by Dec. 31 and business service centers in Virginia Beach and Roanoke in the second half of 1996.
The actions will eliminate 150 to 180 jobs as part of a plan to cut about 5,600 jobs in the mid-Atlantic area by the end of 1997. The company has estimated that as many as 1,000 jobs could be lost at Bell Atlantic-Virginia, its Richmond-based subsidiary.
Work from the Roanoke and Virginia Beach business centers will shift to the company's Richmond operation.
In Leesburg, the company employs 59 operators and managers. The company will reroute calls handled by that center to operators in Roanoke, Norton and Pulaski and to two centers in Maryland.
The Leesburg center will be closed partly because the company lost a contract last year to provide long-distance directory assistance for AT&T Corp. customers calling for numbers in the region.CFW Communications Corp., a telephone holding company based in Waynesboro, won the AT&T contract and expects to begin providing operator services next month.
The Leesburg center also is a victim of technology that lets Bell Atlantic provide operator services with fewer people, the company said.
The Roanoke and Virginia Beach business centers each employ 50 to 60 people who answer questions from small-business customers.
by CNB