Cornwall ON – Outside the Vincent Massey facility that employs hundreds of employee’s are some conflicting signs. One is encouraging people to apply for work while the other is a For Lease sign.
One of the largest employers in Cornwall is mum on its plans for their city force. No news on seeking an alternative location and no news on negotiating to stay in their current facility.
Star Tek closed its Thunder Bay operation in 2010, and has been growing its Costa Rican facility. The uniqueness of Cornwall is the bilingual work force that services Bell’s Francophone customers.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out in the near future. We will be updating this story and if you work for Star Tek and wish to comment you can email us at info@cornwallfreenews.com or call our hotline at 613 361 1755 as well as post your comments below.
I know someone in the corporate office and they will be closing their doors in august.
The lack of communication indicates they have no plans on staying. Why would a company stay in a great country like Canada, and an even greater community like Cornwall? Above minimum wage pay, benefits and incentives affect the bottom line. They can and will go to a place where they can pay someone and entire weeks wages with one hours pay here. Todays society is terrible, and it’s all just “business”. Screw the little man, screw dedication, honesty, and community – thats the new moto and it looks like this company is on board. Just think, the next time you call them for help you won’t be able to understand them – the foreign accent will be too hard to make out!
If Star Tek does close I hope the city and our local government move there Ass and try to entice some new employment to help relieve the strain this is going to cause on our economy.
Sad for employees but for the ones who run the place, they get what they deserve
Was hired by the Cornwall site about a year ago, and my half hour interview over ther the phone was done with an employee from a site in the Philippines. Before I was done my training a whole dept had lost their possitions to a site in the Philippines. So, my feelng is, they have been planning this move for awhile, it’s just kind of sad, I know people from this Cornwall site that were so happy to have the opportunity to be sent to the Philippines to train others,,,,apparently to take their jobs from them.
Change the law, get rid of Free Trade, and all these employment and manufacturing problems go away. Raise Customs and Excise taxes to encourage, Made In Canada. Protectionism protects you and me and the rest of us. It’s about protecting. If your business is located here, you can not provide off shore telemarketing. It’s simple. It’s easy. Ask your Member of Parliament for a personal guarantee. Something real to vote about, isn’t it? Seven hundred jobs in Cornwall need a guarantee and absolutely. All we have to do is ask our MP to end off shore telemarketing services. It’s easy.
I have seen this coming for several months. Their profits are way down. They have been cutting back or getting rid of internal departments entirely. They will not replace the dirty carpets, broken chairs and aging computers. They are doing a terrible job of combating these rumors. Many skilled tenured agents and supervisors have left for greener pastures in the past several months.
tenured agents what exactly is that?
My expereince is reading form a montitor. Ask Anne
Was by this office building today. Saw the For Lease sign on the building however the HIRING sign was no where to be seen.
It’s almost hilarious to see this now, considering everyone with a brain would have seen this coming, When a trained monkey with no hands and confined to a wheelchair can run a business better, you know your in trouble. It does suck for the people there who worked there ass off, especially alot of the supervisors, but the upper management just seemed far too..out of touch…I’ll say retarded… to deal with the changing economy.
Well, if someone did want to set up a dynamic company that used a personal contact platform, Cornwall is certainly able to fill the bill. The ability to contact a wide flung consumer base, handle network telecommunications problems and administrate the same, has certainly been proven here. Should it be the case that the company model, needs or economics change, isn’t a negative reflection of the workforce. A normal investment in Cornwall could quickly gain a strong network of communications, electronics and computer savvy programmers and web-slingers, ready to hit the wires. Some company, out there, needs a routine and stable work force like this. Somewhere, out there, walking amongst the Bay Street irregulars is our next corporate pal. Bring it on, Slick. Next. Your team is waiting. Whose got a solid? Rainmaker – fill that gap. Investing in Cornwall pays better than clipping a coupon at eight percent and way more fun.
Startek just needs to be honest with what their plans are. They have suspended new hires and training. I hope this sends a message to Cornwall. We cannot rely on call centres for long term employment. Many in Canada close within 10 years.
If they would hire people who knew what they were doing and did not cost the company millions of dollars, maybee they would not be closing. I have been working at Startek for 8 years and have seen may site directors come and go. Why not open call centers in the Phillipines and Costa Rico. Of course it’s much more realistic for the company. Why pay us $12 hour when you can pay a monkey $5 hour to do the same job. It bad enough the customer’s dont like speaking to foreign people with an accent. Soon that is all they will get. No one cares about that, they just care about saving a little bit of money.
Joe, I checked, the minimum wage in Costa Rica is $1.95 an hour. It’s $2.50 to $4.00 if you have a degree. They had a general strike March 11.
The beauty of employees in Cornwall is that most are cross trained and multi-skilled. We can load skids, build circuit boards, fix conveyor belts, web master, make movies…what do you want? Thousands here, know how to do it. Right now.
now that near 150 people quit at startek since they were told it was being shut down,startek has told the remaining employees that they have to work saturdays to make up for the loss of people. The ones that are sticking it out till the end are thanked by being forcefully put on saturday shifts ,taken from their families,yes startek you are so family oriented you ooze of it each time you appear in the paper.Just do everyone a big favor and just pack your business and leave