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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 20, 2005 U.S. Cellular to close call center Business exchange with Alltel Corp. will affect 160 local workers By GREG STILES Mail Tribune A few weeks ago, U.S. Cellular’s real estate staff was searching for property to build a permanent office for its 160-person Medford call center. Monday, the call center’s director and managers were dismissed and the remaining staff was told the local operation was closing Nov. 18. The abrupt change was signaled last week when U.S. Cellular agreed to acquire Cellular One operations and customers in Kansas and Nebraska from Alltel Corp. in exchange for its wireless networks and customers in Idaho and a $50 million payment. Reached by phone after he returned to Chicago Monday, U.S. Cellular President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Rooney said the center became expendable once the deal was struck. "We debated long and hard," Rooney said. "We analyzed the numbers after we did the trade for Idaho and it was clear we needed to make a decision for the company and that entailed closing Medford. We didn’t pull the plug on the development thing until a little after we made a decision." Advertisement The agreement is expected to close during the fourth quarter, subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice. As part of the deal, Alltel will pick up nearly 91,000 customers in Idaho who were served by the Medford call center. Rooney said non-management staff members could transfer to any of the company’s other call centers, while management would have to reapply to join the company. Katheryn Carnahan, who has been with company for seven years and directed the local operation since May 2004, was dismissed Monday along with other managers. Sandi Pellow, former director of the Medford office who has been in Oklahoma, will manage the site until its closure. "We no longer needed our senior leadership and they were terminated immediately," Rooney said. "We really want as many of those people to transfer and go to other jobs in country. It was amazing how many were talking about going to those centers." Employees will be given two-months’ severance pay. Rooney said that neither operational costs nor cost of living here were factors in the closure, although he thought housing would be less costly in the other call center markets. U.S. Cellular employees moved into the former US West building, a 30,000-square-foot center at Fifth and Bartlett streets, in October of 1997. From there the staff has handled customer service, training and collections for Oregon, Northern California, Washington and Idaho. The company is the nation’s sixth-largest wireless service carrier with more than 5.2 million customers in 149 markets in 25 states. The firm said that inquiries from customers in the Pacific Northwest will be shifted to Tulsa, Okla. However, calls made to the company’s customer service lines Monday were answered by employees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Bolingbrook, Ill. The cellular service provider also operates call centers in Knoxville, Tenn., and Waukesha, Wis. State regional economic development officer Bruce Laird said he knew something was up after the AllTel announcement when he stopped hearing from U.S. Cellular real estate representatives. "We’ve been working hard to find a new home for those guys," Laird said. "It was interesting that real estate and other sections were completely unaware of this going on. Even the people on the inside were surprised." The call center jobs have been considered good ones by economic developers, with pay ranging from $10.75 an hour for starting customer service jobs to about $12 an hour after three years. Laird said many employees may end up going to work for Harry and David or Sprint, both of which operate local call centers. "When big corporations make moves, what are you going to do?" Laird asked. "The economy is robust here and it’s a statistic (when a workplace closes). But it’s a personal thing when your job is on the line." Medford’s economic development chief and assistant city manager Bill Hoke said U.S. Cellular’s move is common "in this age of consolidation." "I hate empty buildings," Hoke said. "But at least they’re already wired so someone can come in and plug and play." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail U.S. Cellular to close call center ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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