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DENVER (AP) -- Qwest Communications International has notified union officials it plans to cut 320 jobs in five states, including Utah, in the next three months.
Qwest officials said the cuts in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Utah announced Monday are in response to weak demand for phone service. Officials said they will try to avoid layoffs before March 30. On that date, the company will use layoffs to reach the target of 320 jobs.
"We've been pretty successful in the past in addressing a surplus situation with normal attrition, transfers to other departments," said Qwest spokesman Steve Hammack.
The contract with Local 7777 of the Communications Workers of America requires Qwest to give the union 90 days' notice of impending layoffs.
Last month, Qwest began seeking volunteers for unpaid leave and voluntary severance. Employees who leave Qwest either voluntarily or involuntarily will receive severance pay.
No nonunion cuts were announced. Last week, Qwest confirmed that it had given about 20,000 nonunion managers a 3 percent annual bonus.
Qwest employs about 53,000 people, including about 14,500 in Colorado. Some analysts said the company will need to make additional cuts in 2003 unless the economy makes dramatic improvement soon.
"Unless there's a pickup in demand for basic phone service, it could portend more," said Tom Friedberg of Janco Partners in Denver.
Union spokesman Lew Ellingson predicted few of the 320 cuts will come through voluntary departures.
Meanwhile, Colorado regulators have approved Qwest's proposal for several small price increases, including a new 1 percent late fee for phone bills larger than $50.
Most of the price increases are directed at business rather than residential customers. They are intended to offset a $12.7 million decrease in the amount of money Qwest can draw from a state fund used to subsidize phone service in remote, expensive-to-serve areas.
The price increases approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will go into effect Wednesday.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
