BOTHELL – Cingular plans to lay off another 160 people in the Puget Sound area by early April as the company continues trimming its work force after buying AT&T Wireless late in 2004.
Including Thursday’s announcement, Cingular has indicated it will let go of more than 400 employees in Bothell, Redmond and Seattle this year.
Cingular spokeswoman Anne Marshall said layoffs will continue through the next 12 to 18 months. “Moving forward, the only thing that’s going to differ is the numbers,” she said.
The layoffs won’t be limited to specific departments and will include management positions, Marshall said.
Overall, the nation’s largest wireless company plans to reduce its national work force by about 10 percent, or about 7,000 jobs.
Marshall added that employees who lose their jobs will get at least 60 days notice and severance packages. The severance will be based on their tenure and position with Cingular or AT&T Wireless.
Most of the locally affected employees were with AT&T Wireless until Cingular paid $41 billion last year to buy the Redmond-based company. AT&T Wireless had nearly 5,500 employees statewide, including more than 1,000 in Bothell, which was home to the company’s information technology and customer service offices.
AT&T Wireless employees who stayed with the merged company through the end of 2004 received a bit of good news this week, as their annual bonuses came through, Marshall said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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