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SCMP Reporter

GLOBAL telecommunications giant AT&T has revealed part of its 14,000-strong workforce in Asia will be sacked following a major restructuring package announced yesterday.

  Up to 200 people in the Hong Kong computer division face dismissal.

  AT&T rocked the telecommunications industry when it revealed it would split into three separate companies and lay off 8,500 workers worldwide from its Global Information Systems computer division.

  Hong Kong-based company spokesman Scott Horne said: 'The only clear area we have identified which will suffer losses in the region is GIS. Outside that, we have no specifics.'   The computer division employs about 6,000 people in the region and has manufacturing operations in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand.

  Locally, the sprawling conglomerate employs a total of 846 people, of which about 200 work in Global Information Systems.

  Mr Horne said he could not comment on how many people in Hong Kong would lose their jobs as no decisions had been made.

  But employment analysts said it made sense for the company to slash Hong Kong staff as they were more expensive than employees elsewhere in the region.

  The announcement was another dose of bad news for local residents and marked the latest in a long line of local companies cutting back on staff, pushing Hong Kong's unemployment rate up to an unprecedented 3.5 per cent of the workforce.

  Mr Horne played down the extent of the job losses and emphasised AT&T's commitment to the region and Hong Kong.

  However, he said it was impossible to know where, when or how many people would be affected.

  'When people find out which of the three new companies they are aligned too, we will be in a clearer position to say,' he said.

  AT&T currently employs more than 300,000 worldwide and generated sales of US$75 billion (HK$580 billion) in 1994.

  Under the restructuring plan, it will split into a telephone company, a communications-equipment manufacturer and a maker of mainframe computers and automated teller machines.



AT&T break-up to hit local staff