One of the major arguments that T-Mobile and Sprint made for their merger was that it would create jobs, but this week it's been revealed that T-Mo is laying off a large number of Sprint employees.
T-Mobile vice president James Kirby is said to have held a conference call with hundreds of Sprint employees yesterday to tell them that they were being laid off. TechCrunch obtained audio of the call which is said to have lasted less than 6 minutes, and a person who participated says that there were nearly 400 other people on the call.
The exact number of Sprint employees being let go isn't known, but the person on the call says that every division of Sprint is being affected. Sprint's BISO sales division, which focuses on small businesses, is reportedly being eliminated as part of the layoffs.
The employees that are being let go will have their jobs until August 13 and will then receive severance that's reportedly equal to two weeks' pay for each year they worked on the job.
On the call, Kirby reportedly told the Sprint employees that the layoffs will help to make way for 200 new jobs inside T-Mobile and that affected Sprint workers were encouraged to apply for those new positions.
Throughout the merger process, T-Mobile said that it would create jobs if it was allowed to combine with Sprint. That included opening 5 new Customer Experience Centers in different parts of the US and having more than 11,000 additional employees on the new T-Mobile's payroll by 2024 than the standalone T-Mobile and Sprint would have. The CWA, an opponent of the merger, argued that the deal could lead to the elimination of up to 30,000 jobs.
The news that hundreds of Sprint employees are being let go 2 months after the T-Mo-Sprint merger closed is sure to frustrate some people, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could make the situation worse for those workers being let go.
T-Mobile has not issued an official response to today's news.
UPDATE: In its response to today's report, T-Mobile says that it's planning to add 5,000 new jobs over the next year in departments like Retail, Care, T-Mobile for Business, and Engineering.
T-Mo goes on to explain that it's looking at the entire merged organization to determine how to focus its resources to best help consumers. Some employees who hold similar positions are being asked to consider a career change within T-Mobile while others will get help in finding a job outside of the carrier.
You can read T-Mobile's full statement here.