news-record.com

RALEIGH (MCT) — Time Warner Cable, the state's biggest cable TV company, will shut down its customer call center in Fayetteville and move the center's 80 jobs to Raleigh and Wilmington.

The employees in those jobs, who are paid about $30,000 a year, will be able to reapply for their positions in the new locations. Sixty call representative jobs will be moved to Raleigh, and 20 dispatch jobs will go to Wilmington.

Time Warner will shut down the 45-year-old Fayetteville center Oct. 29 to consolidate operations, leaving two call centers in Raleigh and Wilmington. Company spokeswoman Melissa Buscher said this is not a cost-cutting measure.

"These functions lend themselves to centralization for staffing reasons, training and supervision," Buscher said.

Time Warner notified the state Department of Commerce last week about the layoffs that also will cut one position in Southern Pines and one in Lumberton.

Buscher said workers who lose their jobs because they don't want to move or aren't rehired after reapplying will be given severance packages.

Workers who move to Raleigh or Wilmington will receive relocation packages that will cover costs.

Time Warner employs about 1,500 people in Raleigh, nearly 400 in Wilmington and 325 in Fayetteville.

The company sells phone, Internet and cable TV service to more than 800,000 customers in the Triangle and Eastern North Carolina.