Sept. 7, 2000

The day after hundreds of Utahns lost their jobs at Novell, another company prepares to add employees to the unemployment lines.

The company is Qwest, which used be known as U.S. West before a giant merger. That merger is now resulting in corporate "downsizing," and it means a lot of phone company employees will be losing their jobs.

News Specialist Scott Light has more on the Utah impact.

The multi-billion merger between Qwest and U.S. West undoubtedly left some overlap. In order to keep earnings and sales up, 11,000 jobs must go.

It comes as no suprise but it's still hard to handle for the thousands affected by a giant corporate merger.

The combined company has 71,000 employees nationwide. The reduction in workforce will be complete by the end of next year.

Michael Frandsen/Qwest: "THE IMPACT ON UTAH SHOULD BE MINIMAL. WE GOT ABOUT 3,600 EMPLOYEES IN UTAH AND OF THOSE, THREE PERCENT WILL BE AFFECTED."

That equals about 100 jobs-- a low number considering the overall reduction.

But consumer groups have concerns about customer service and maybe rightly so, according to complaints filed at the Utah Public Service Commission.

From 1992 to 2000, the commission received more complaints about U.S. West and Qwest than all other utilities, including Questar and PacifiCorp.

Jeff Fox/Utah Consumers Network: "IN UTAH THEY HAD A NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS THAT HAVE DEALT WITH SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER SERVICE, FIXING LINES THAT NEEDED TO BE REPAIRED."

At the same time the cuts were announced, Qwest upped its sales and earnings forecast for this year and next.

If the company puts that extra money in customer service areas, fine. But Jeff Fox worries about it landing somewhere else.

Jeff Fox: "THIS MAY NOT BODE WELL FOR SERVICE QUALITY ISSUES IN UTAH."

As a Qwest spokesperson put it, in this age of ever-changing technology Qwest needs a nimble workforce.

Part of the money saved from job cuts will go toward more internet and wireless communication services.