In 2017, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson campaigned for Trump’s massive tax-cuts by promising that they would create 7,000 jobs with the $3,000,000,000 they stood to gain, as well as investing in new infrastructure: instead, the company has reduced its headcount by 23,328 workers (6,000 in the first three months of 2019!) while reducing capital expenditures by $1.4B (AT&T reduced capex by another $900m in Q1/2019).
AT&T substantially increased executive bonuses over the same period.
When contacted by Ars, AT&T didn’t deny any of the CWA’s findings. “We continue to hire in areas where we’re seeing increasing demand for products and services, but technology is changing rapidly and that affects hiring and employment,” AT&T told Ars. “There are fewer jobs in parts of the business that are declining and facing technology shifts.”
AT&T promised 7,000 new jobs to get tax break—it cut 23,000 jobs instead [Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica]
(Image: Mike Mozard, CC-BY)