Gail Torreano

With the opening of a new call center in its Michigan headquarters in downtown Detroit, AT&T will be creating 350 new jobs.

Gail Torreano, president of AT&T Michigan, said hiring will begin in the near future, and that the call center should be operational by the end of the year.

The 350 new hires will assist customers who have questions concerning their high speed Internet service. The call center will service the entire Midwest. These employees, at least 300 of whom will be unionized, will earn an average of $445 per week, according to reports.

Torreano said customer service differentiates AT&T, and that the company’s goal is to keep its customers connected no matter where they are, and no matter what device they have.

The project has been in the works for well over two years. Torreano thanked both Gov. Granholm and the state legislature for their “huge role” in making it a reality.

“It was those people who passed legislation that really made our telecommunications environment here in Michigan stable and really ready for investment,” she said. “Without the public policy environment on the state level being what it is, we wouldn’t all be sitting here today.”

Granholm was not in attendance at the Sept. 23 announcement. Keith Cooley, director of the Michigan Dept. of Labor and Economic Growth (DLEG), relayed greetings from her. He also said this partnership among AT&T, Detroit, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and the Dept. of Labor and Economic Growth is even more important because AT&T has brought these new jobs to Detroit.

Cooley, who called the partnership a “grand collaborative” focused on bringing new businesses to Detroit, said it is important to remember two things:

First, the jobs don’t have to be done here.

“They can be done in India, they can be done in Ireland, they can be done in Brazil, they can be done in Argentina,” he said. “But they’re going to be done here because this lady (Torreano) and the folks that she put together spent two years working on it.”

Second, this is a renaissance. Cooley said we have created the future, and that this is a watershed event.

Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. emphasized that these new jobs will be in heart of the city.

“(Other cities are) keeping their heads down and they’re trying to ride out this perfect economic storm that seems like it’ll never end,” Cockrel said, adding that AT&T is helping Detroit move forward.

He also said it is always a pleasure to not only do business with a company, but to see that company giving back to the community.

“I appreciate your undying commitment to the city of Detroit,” he told Torreano. “There are so many corporations that have talked that talk about being good corporate citizens, but they haven’t necessarily walked the walk.”

Cockrel pointed out that AT&T has not only maintained its investment in Detroit, but has added to it.

Cooley said the DLEG will serve as one of the facilitators of the training. Money from the No Worker Left Behind program, which provides two years worth of post secondary tuition at no cost, can be used to get people in the No Worker Left Behind program trained for these new jobs.
The new employees will be hired over time, rather than all at once.

“It takes some time, because there’s also some training involved,” Torreano said.