Telecommunications giant AT&T had a good year politically. Not only did they get to see net neutrality repealed by the FCC, but the giant Republican tax scam was passed. AT&T was, unsurprisingly, in support of both of these extremely unpopular policy changes since they had a lot to gain.
That’s why many people raised their eyebrows at the company’s move to layoff thousands of employees on the heels of these developments that are supposedly supposed to help create jobs like Trump said. Ars Technica reports:
AT&T was sued last week by a workers' union that is trying to stop the telco from instituting what it calls a "massive layoff." Thousands of employees are reportedly being laid off by the company, which reported $39.7 billion in revenue and $6.4 billion in operating income last quarter.
AT&T is "instituting an unprecedented massive layoff of employees represented by the union while at the same time massively subcontracting work that the employees are trained and qualified to perform," the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said in a lawsuit filed Saturday in US District Court in Austin, Texas. The union also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
It’s funny how AT&T was so quick to loudly pat itself on the back for giving bonuses and pretending that it was due to the tax cut when it really was a pre-negotiated raise with an employee union. Yet the news of the layoffs went very quietly. It’s almost like they know they’ve done something that wouldn’t look good?
This goes to show that the Republican move to cut taxes at the top will not lead to more jobs and money for the average American. Trickle-down economics just don’t work; it never has and it never will.