"And does anyone seriously think that eliminating up to 10,000 jobs - as this merger would - will improve telecommunications service? We doubt it, as do most consumer groups."

- Augusta Chronicle Editorial, March 9, 2006

• The merger will cost jobs. AT&T and BellSouth "anticipate the loss of 10,000 jobs" after the merger and predict that "half of the $13.9 billion" in merger savings will come from "headcount reductions." BellSouth told the Georgia PSC in its merger filing that merger cost savings would principally be driven by "elimination of duplicative staff and related administrative expenses." What's the risk to jobs? According to AT&T/BellSouth's own regulatory filings, the combined company will employ, before any layoffs, over 317,000 Americans. If the company says it will realize half of its merger synergies from additional job cuts, a massive number of jobs are at stake.

• The nation's largest communications union is concerned: "CWA is particularly concerned that the merger of BellSouth into a national company could result in the closing of technical operations, call centers, or other facilities in one community and the movement of that work to another community. The result will be the destruction of careers for employees and good jobs in many communities."

-- Communications Workers of America, FCC Comment Filing, June 5, 2006.

• AT&T also has plans to cut jobs and move them -- you guessed it -- overseas. "In past mergers, companies have cut employment with negative consequences for customers in order to reach projected synergy targets. We need only look at what happened after SBC bought the “old” AT&T to become the “new” AT&T. Six months after the closing of that merger, AT&T announced a reduction-in-force (“RIF”), including the closure of consumer call centers in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Massachusetts and 25 percent reduction in positions at the TRS relay center for hard of hearing in Pennsylvania. At the same time that AT&T announced the closing of U.S.-based call centers, it was contracting with vendors based overseas to handle customer calls."

-- Communications Workers of America, FCC Comment Filing, June 5, 2006.