AT&T Offshoring Claims Get Callers New Shot at Trade Benefits

The Labor Department must reassess its denial of trade adjustment assistance to former AT&T call center employees because it didn’t address some evidence of offshoring, the U.S. Court of International Trade said Tuesday.

Trade adjustment assistance includes financial aid and reemployment services, like job training, for U.S. workers who were laid off or lost hours because of offshoring or increased competition from foreign imports.

Communications Workers of America Local 4123 filed a petition for trade adjustment benefits, alleging that AT&T Inc. established call centers in multiple foreign locations including Mexico, the Philippines, and the Caribbean, and was closing several U.S. ...