By Alex Wright
 Job cuts: BTC president and CEO Francis Mussenden announced that jobs will go as part of a company restructuring |
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Jobs will be cut at Bermuda Telephone Company Ltd. (BTC) due to the current economic downturn and increased competition, The Royal Gazette can reveal.
Francis Mussenden, president and CEO of BTC, told the paper that the telecommunications company would be restructured with some positions no longer required and new roles created, but did not know how many staff would be affected by the move until discussions had been held with the unions.
Mr. Mussenden said the decision to realign the company was taken in light of a shift in customer preferences to wireless services, coupled with the current economic downturn, an increasingly competitive marketplace and changes in technology and infrastructure.
He said employees had been advised of the changes yesterday and that BTC would provide outplacement services and employee assistance counselling to laid off staff, as well as severance benefits.
But Mr. Mussenden added that some of those affected would be offered alternative jobs within the company based on their skills, with the number released largely depending on the number of employees who accept or decline the offers of other positions.
“BTC has not been immune from the experiences of Telco’s worldwide, whose customers continue to migrate from wireline to wireless services,” he said.
“This shift in customer preferences to wireless services, coupled with our current economic downturn, an increasingly competitive marketplace, and changes in technology and infrastructure, requires us to realign our organisation to provide our customers with the best service possible. This realignment means that some new jobs will be created while others are no longer required.
“I don’t know at this moment in time how many staff will be affected because we need to work it out with the unions.
“But new positions will be created and hopefully the staff are offered them with the right skill sets will have the ability to take on those roles.”
Mr. Mussenden moved to assure staff that BTC had taken steps to manage its costs, including reviewing and renegotiating vendor contracts, postponing non-essential capital investments and freezing executive pay.
Implementation of BTC’s new management team structure will be carried out over the next week, according to Mr. Mussenden, while changes to unionised positions were pending the conclusion of discussions with both of BTC’s union partners, the Bermuda Industrial Union and the Bermuda Public Service Union.