Z-TEL LAYS OFF 99 IN TAMPA: Z-Tel Technologies Inc. laid off 99 customer service employees at its Tampa headquarters on Tuesday, a move the telecommunications company expects to save roughly $5.1-million per year in salary expenses. Corporate counsel Andy Graham said Z-Tel will shift some of the workload to its facility in Atmore, Ala., and outsource some of it to Sykes Enterprises Inc. of Tampa and other customer-service specialists. About 360 employees remain at the headquarters.
SYKES LAYS OFF 145 IN MARIANNA: Sykes Enterprises Inc. will permanently lay off 145 employees at its Marianna call center, the Tampa company said in a notice to state officials this week. Sykes, which has been shutting call centers in the United States and building ones in lower-wage markets overseas, has a center in Palatka, as well. Company officials did not respond to an e-mail Thursday seeking information on the Marianna layoffs, which will take place Aug. 7.
PALM HARBOR BROKER CENSURED: The New York Stock Exchange censured Palm Harbor broker Edwin Dunn and suspended him from association with any member brokerage for two months for unfair sales practices. The exchange said Dunn failed to tell customers the callable CDs they were buying would not mature for 20 years. At the time, in 1998-99, Dunn worked for Raymond James & Associates, which reimbursed complaining customers for their losses when they sold the CDs before maturity. Dunn denied wrongdoing but consented to the ruling to put the matter behind him, according to a spokesman for Robert W. Baird & Co., where he has worked the past four years.
NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS CLIMB: The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance increased by a seasonally adjusted 12,000 to 352,000 for the week ending June 5. Although the increase in filings comes after two straight weeks of declines, the 352,000 level of claims is still well below the 424,000 filed for the same week a year ago, showing that the layoffs picture has improved from last year.
BUMPER CROP OF ORANGES: Florida growers will harvest a record 245-million boxes of oranges this season, unchanged from last month's estimate, and the crop is juicier than expected, the government said. A 90-pound box of oranges is projected to yield 1.56 gallons of juice, up from 1.55 gallons expected last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its second-to-last report on the current harvest. Orange juice futures have dropped 36 percent in the past year as supply overwhelmed reduced demand from juice processors and swelled inventories.
