© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

New Consolidated Communications Contract Could Eliminate 70 Maine Jobs

A new contract between Local 1400 of the Communications Workers of America and Consolidated Communications could potentially eliminate 70 of 128 call center positions in northern New England.

All 70 of the potentially-eliminated jobs are in Maine. Local union chapter President Don Trementozzi said Thursday that agreeing to a series of early retirement incentives and placing the Maine jobs at risk was a better option than what the company had originally offered the union.

"They wanted to eliminate all of them, lay them all off and move the work out of state to other Consolidated areas around the country because the wages are cheaper and benefits are less," Trementozzi said.

Trementozzi said Consolidated Communications, which acquired Fairpoint Communications last year, will likely wait to gauge the impact that its early retirement incentives will have on the workforce before making a decision on the Maine call center jobs.