On September 14, PG&E’s Contact Center Operations leadership announced through a Teams call that they had made the decision to close the San Jose Call Center. IBEW members have worked out of the San Jose CCO HQ at 111 Almaden in San Jose since 1994.
While this announcement was disappointing, it did not come as a complete surprise. The staffing of senior service representative and customer service representative classifications at SJCC has been dropping for several years. The last class of new employees at SJCC was over three years ago, and as employees have bid out or retired, they have been replaced with employees hired into the Sacramento or Fresno Contact Centers. Currently, there are just over 30 IBEW members working for CCO in San Jose. By comparison, in 2014, there were approximately 175.
IBEW members working in CCO at SJCC do not have to fear being without a job at PG&E. The negotiated agreement IBEW 1245 made with PG&E during the height of the bankruptcy saga guarantees there will be no involuntary layoffs.
IBEW 1245 will work to ensure that our impacted members have options. In the coming days, IBEW 1245 will be in discussions with PG&E to give our members as many options to choose from as possible. In the recent past, IBEW 1245 has made agreements with options that have included severance; filling of vacancies in beginning level classifications in other departments and locations; and moving allowances for taking the same position elsewhere within the department. Once the options for our SJCC members have been determined, they will be communicated out to the impacted members.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me or your business rep.
–Bryan Carroll, IBEW 1245 Senior Assistant Business Manager