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Center Partners to eliminate 100 more jobs in North Idaho- Discount may hire some of them

Center Partners will cut operations in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, which could leave at least 100 workers unemployed in North Idaho.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer Spokesman Review

The exact number of layoffs won’t be announced, said Martha Lanaghen, vice president of marketing for the Fort Collins, Colo.-based company.

Notices will be sent to affected employees this month and next. In both cases, Center Partners is using the federal WARN (Worker Adjustment and Renotification) Act, which requires employers to file notices if they plan cuts totaling more than 50 workers over a 60-day period.

Lanaghen said Center Partners plans to file two WARN notices, but she declined to confirm whether that means 100 or more employees will be laid off.

Employees notified in the month of September will lose their jobs in November. Those notified next month will lose their jobs in December.

An article in a Coeur d’Alene newspaper speculated that 500 jobs will be cut. "That number is not accurate," she said.

One reason for caution, said Lanaghen, is that call center employment shifts rapidly.

At one point late in 2002, Center Partners had about 1,400 call-center workers at its two Kootenai County sites. Since April, the number has dropped to 800.

The reduction was the result of Comcast Corp., the call center’s largest customer, shifting more operations to its own customer service center.

The newly announced layoffs are also related to Comcast, she added.

In April, it appeared that several hundred workers in North Idaho would be affected by Comcast’s decision to reduce its contract with Center Partners.

"If we had made the announcement then, we would have been wrong," she said.

The actual job loss was less than half the original estimate, she said, because Comcast reconsidered its schedule for shifting service calls.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=090403&ID=s1404438&cat=section.business

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Discount to reactivate call center

Communication firm plans to hire 24 new employees

By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer CdA Press

COEUR d’ALENE — At least a few laid off Center Partners employees might be able to find jobs with another local call center.

Allan Brandvein, chief executive officer of Discount Communications in Coeur d’Alene, said he will reactivate his outbound call center, and will hire 24 new employees, and double that number within two to three months.

"The timing is perfect," said Brandvein.

Center Partners said Tuesday it will eliminate some employees in November and December as a result of losing its AT&T Broadband account earlier this year when Comcast, its parent company, decided to handle service calls in-house.

Brandvein is doing the same.

Instead of contracting telephone sales for Dish TV, Sprint PCS phones and security systems to outside companies, he said he will offer good pay and benefits to employees to work for him .

One main reason for the change is to comply with new regulations and ensure compliance with the national do-not-call list which goes into effect Oct. 1.

"We’re taking measures to comply and reduce our exposure," said Brandvein.

Phone solicitors who contact numbers on the list face fines.

It will take $50,000 to $100,000 worth of automated dialing equipment to efficiently meet those restrictions, and Brandvein said he is negotiating with several companies to buy it.

"We’re a $5 million company now," he said. "Within 24 months, that will double."

Discount Communications, 315 W. Dalton, also operates in California and in the Inland Northwest in Spokane, Tri-Cities, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, Moscow, Lewiston and recently began operations in Yakima.

Brandvein said he will begin hiring today. Employees will undergo two weeks of training before beginning work.

Information: 292-1099

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http://www.cdapress.com/index.asp?Sec=Business&str=12937

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