Sears moving call-centre jobs offshore

Canadian retail giant Sears is paring down its customer call centres, closing its operations in Regina and reducing its workforce at another centre in Ontario.

Workers in both locations were given notice of the job losses on Thursday, which will take effect in September.

In Regina about 250 people were given notices. Another 230 workers were affected in Belleville, Ont. The Belleville job losses were in the company's catalog division.

"We've out sourced it [the call-centre function] to a Canadian company that does have operations in Canada as well as in the Philippines," Vincent Power, a spokesman for Sears, told CBC News on Thursday.

Power said the job cuts were due to advancing technology and the seasonal requirements of the service.

"This move has nothing to do with the performance of our employees or how they serve customers," Power said. "They've been great. But in the call- centre industry this is the way the industry is going and as a company we owe it to save more jobs."

A call centre in Montreal was not affected by the cuts.
source: www.cbc.ca

Sitel closing Port Arthur call center, 409 to lose jobs

409 people will lose their jobs when the Sitel call center closes in Port Arthur.

Andrew Kokes with Sitel told KFDM News the Port Arthur call center on Highway 365 will close August 29.

The company is working to help find jobs for all of the 409 employees at the call center.

"The closure is due to the changing business needs of our client and is in no way reflective of the quality of customer care provided by our Port Arthur associates," said Kokes.

From Sitel

Sitel to Close Port Arthur, Texas Facility

Business Process Outsourcer Working with Government Agencies and Local Businesses to Identify New Opportunities for Employees

Nashville, Tenn. - June 25, 2009-Sitel, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, today announced the closure of its facility located at 365 Highway 365, Port Arthur, Texas. All Port Arthur-based employees were given more than 60 days advance notice of the scheduled August 29, 2009 closing to give them as much time as possible to prepare for this change in their employment status.

The Company expects approximately 409 employees will be affected by the facility's closure and is working with other businesses and government agencies in the area to assist these individuals in finding new employment. Additionally, Sitel is encouraging employees to apply for open positions at the Company's nearby facilities in Dallas and Longview.

"We have been an active part of the Port Arthur business community for a number of years so the decision to close our site here does not come easy," said Mallory Morrison, site director of Sitel's Port Arthur facility. "This closure is due to the changing business needs of our client and is in no way reflective of the quality of customer care provided by our Port Arthur associates."

About Sitel

Sitel is a global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) leader. The company meets clients' customer care and transaction processing needs through 60,000 associates in 27 countries. Sitel provides world-class solutions from on-shore, nearshore and offshore locations across 155+ facilities throughout North America, South America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. The company's award-winning services provide clients with the strategic insight, scale and diversity of offerings to ensure the best return on their customer investment. The company is privately held and majority owned by Canadian diversified company, Onex Corporation. For more information, please visit www.sitel.com.
source: www.kfdm.com

Offshore action picks up

Offshore action has really picked up this week near the Norfolk Canyon. Numerous yellowfin tuna and dolphin were reported. Mako sharks and bluefin tuna were also reported from the Lumpy Bottom. Inshore in several locations the large flounder, while scattered, have begun to bite. Large fish were reported from Chincoteague, Wachapreague, and the lower bay areas.

Spanish mackerel and puppy drum (juvenile red drum) are showing at the piers, and the usual summertime fish--croaker, spot, and sea mullet--were reported throughout the area.

Some nice cobia catches were reported last week, and the cobia action seems to be heating up as sight casters were able to find nice fish last week.

According to staff at Captain Bob's, large flounder are being caught around Chincoteague. Numerous big catches in the 21- to 23-inch range were caught last week from the Queen's Sound and Assateague Channel. Gulp bait and minnows seem to be catching them the best. Offshore, the Lumpy Bottom and the Parking Lot were producing with two 100-pound mako sharks reported from the Parking Lot and a 150-pound bluefin tuna brought in from the Lumpy Bottom.

Hot offshore action was reported from Wachapreague Marina this week. The Norfolk Canyon has been producing small yellowfin tuna, and east of the Lumpy Bottom, anglers are finding mako and tiger sharks. Inshore, there are large numbers of flounder in the Wachapreague Inlet, but only a few have been keepersized. At Captain Zed's, the catch of the week was a 22-inch, 5.5 -pound flounder, which was the winner in a recent flounder tournament. Croakers are biting in the Wachapreague Inlet and at Green and Drawing Channels. Bay markers 6 and 7 have also been productive. Trout were caught in Newstone Creek and south of the Coast Guard Station, and a few catch-and-release striped bass were reported at Dawson Shoals.

Staff at Chris' Bait and Tackle report cobia up to 70 pounds at Latimer Shoals. While flounder fishing has been scattered, some nice fish have been caught. Small croaker and sand mullet were found near Kiptopeke, and a few spadefish were found around the Cell.

At Cobb's Marina, staff report a citation flounder (7 pounds, 2 ounces, 26 inches) caught trolling with squid at the second island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Cobia were spotted this week at the second and third islands, and spadefish are still at the Chesapeake Light Tower.

According to staff at the Sunset Boating Center, striped bass and flounder were caught at the structure of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel last week.

Salt Ponds Marina reports that legal-sized flounder have been biting in the area. While there were no citation fish brought in last week, there were several that were very close.

Several citations were reported at the York River Fishing Center last week. Two citation fish were reported from the Squash Channel: a 58-pound, 6-ounce, 57-inch cobia and a 51-inch catch-and-release red drum. Flounder were biting in the area, and a 7-pound, 10- ounce flounder was brought in from the Baltimore Channel measuring 27 inches long. Other fishing action included flounder, croaker, and spot catches from the Gloucester Point Pier.

# Ken Neill, reporting secretary for the Peninsula Anglers Club, contributed the following: Virginia is experiencing its best yellowfin tuna bite in years. Boats are coming back with limits of tuna ranging from barely legal to pushing 70 pounds. Nobody knows how long this bite will last, but it is on now. This action has been best in the vicinity of the Norfolk Canyon along the 100-Fathom Curve. Gaffer dolphin are also in the catch along with an occasional wahoo or a blue marlin adding to the action. Closer to shore, some bluefin tuna have been caught by anglers fishing the 20-Fathom Curve and some of the inshore hills. Both small bluefin and those in the 150-pound class are around. Plenty of bluefish are also on the inshore hills.

King mackerel are another possible catch while trolling for bluefin on the Hot Dog or 26-Mile Hill. Spadefish continue to be caught at the Chesapeake Light Tower and the bite on structures in the bay is picking up.

A spadefish pushing 15 pounds was caught at the Cell this week. Cobia continue to be the most sought after fish in the bay. Catches have been mixed for both chummers and sight casters. Both techniques are producing good catches and skunks, which is typical cobia fishing. Cape Henry is the hot area for Spanish mackerel, though they are being encountered all along the oceanfront and in the lower bay. Big red drum continue to be caught around the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The Buoy 10 area remains a hot spot. Plenty of flounder are being caught, though most are throw-backs. The best catches are coming from the Cell area and from anglers live-baiting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

# Dr. Julie Ball, IGFA International Representative for Virginia Beach, contributed the following:

Summer officially starts this week, and the summer fishing trend should continue as soon as the wind subsides this weekend. Most anglers will resume their chase for the latest big attraction--cobia. Although the bite off Hampton has slowed up, fish are still coming from the Eastern Shore side of the bay, where chummers sitting on Latimer Shoal and the Inner Middle Grounds are having luck. Sight casters continue to pick fish off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel proper on calmer days.

Flounder action is off and on, depending on who you ask. Although anglers are still working hard for their limits, plenty of "barely shorts" are keeping them interested. According to Connie at Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle, a few doormats are coming from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel area, where anglers are having good luck with live bait and jigging. Robert Hodge of Richmond landed a nice flatfish weighing in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces on a live spot while fishing with Captain Craig Paige aboard the PAIGE 2 recently. Fish are also coming from the Cell, Buoy 42, Back River Reef, and Oyster, as well as Lynnhaven and Rudee inlets. One angler fishing from the jetties scored with a 7- pound, 11-ounce doormat inside Rudee this week.

Spadefish are still commanding considerable attention from anglers, with the Chesapeake Light Tower still the favorite location. Reports indicate there were over 60 boats anchored at the Tower last weekend. Larger fish have moved in, with the biggest coming from the upper bay hot spots, such as the Cell and Wolf Trap Light. Roland E. Murphy of Richmond was fishing at the Cell aboard the Kingfish when a massive 14-pound, 14-ounce spadefish took him for several laps around the boat. At weigh-in, it was determined that this amazing catch may secure the new IGFA All Tackle World Record, as well as the new Virginia State record for this species.

Black drum all but deserted the shoals, and are now starting to show around the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, with scattered hook-ups reported. These fish require extra time while reviving them in order to increase their survival rate. Big red drum are still taking baits along the Eastern Shore shoals and near Buoy 10, especially at night on an incoming tide.

The Spanish mackerel bite along the Virginia Beach ocean front is heating up, although most fish are on the smallish size. Small spoons trolled at 5 to 6 knots are enticing the best response. It's only a matter of time until reports of the first catches of king mackerel start rolling in from near the Little Island Fishing Pier.

Although tricky, some anglers are finding some luck with sheepshead. Many anglers are reporting sightings of pods of large sheepshead cruising the surface behind cobia. Triggerfish are making another good showing this year, with plenty of fish already entertaining anglers near the four islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Larger croaker pushing 2 to 2.5 pounds are lurking around the James River Bridge, the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel, and off Ocean View. Surf anglers are finding a mixed bag along the ocean front, with loads of sea mullet pushing to nearly a pound and scattered puppy drum (juvenile red drum) providing most of the commotion.

When deep droppers can get out, they are still going strong with good limits of tilefish, grouper, and rosefish. The Rudee Inlet headboats running out of the Fishing Center are finding decent black sea bass action at the Triangle Wrecks lately.

The offshore scene is boiling with yellowfin tuna. Boats are hooking dozens of tuna, with many too small to keep. Several fish are falling into the 20- to 40-pound class, with some nice dolphin also in the mix. The best action is coming from north of the Triple 0's in 100 to 500 fathoms of water. A bigeye stole the limelight this past week when it tipped the scales at 180 pounds at Fisherman's Wharf Marina.

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Why Bermuda took the Uighurs

The government of Bermuda has staunchly denied that they were compensated for accepting Uighur detainees from Guantanamo, but the local press is now seizing on an aside in the Times of London as a likely explanation:

Colonel David Burch, Bermuda’s Home Affairs Minister, who flew to Guantánamo Bay to pick up the Uighurs, said that the idea for them to be resettled in Bermuda originated with the Government’s US lobbyists before the premier’s trip to the White House in mid-May and that Mr Brown had put the proposed to US officials. Bermuda is eager to avoid a crackdown by the Obama Administration on offshore financial centres. “One can reasonably expect that if Bermuda gets to a point where it needs some help, Bermuda is in a much stronger position if it made friends before you need them,” Colonel Burch said.

The government's lobbyist is Art Collins, a prominent black Florida politico who reportedly worked on Obama's campaign and transition.
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Offshore gas, oil drilling won't damage Fla. beaches

Saturday, June 27, 2009

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has gone too far this time with his off-the-wall rhetoric about offshore oil and gas drilling.

Last week, he said in Tallahassee that pursuing energy independence by allowing drilling off the Florida coast would convert our world-class beaches into "industrial waste zones." How ridiculous and inflammatory. Oil and gas production has been occurring safely for decades in the central and western Gulf of Mexico.

The fact is that our state badly needs oil and natural gas to maintain our way of life and to keep providing the resources to bring the tourists to Florida. I doubt that Sen. Nelson rode a bicycle from Washington, D.C., to take his anti-oil tour of Florida. The irony is while railing against oil, he used gasoline and jet fuel to make the trip. And to keep him and our tourists cool, electricity produced largely from natural gas provided the air conditioning.

ell all of your elected representatives you know oil and gas production in the gulf can occur in a safe and responsible way, and you want it to happen now.

DAVID BATT, director

Consumer Energy Alliance of Florida

Tallahassee

Editor's note: The Consumer Energy Alliance of Florida includes companies related to drilling for oil and natural gas.

Firefighters should live within their means

In response to the Palm Beach County firefighter who wrote that a sales-tax increase to pay for fire-rescue is a win-win ("Sales tax a win-win for all who need safety services," May 31):

He failed to mention that if the sales-tax revenues fell below the fire-rescue's budget, the county commissioners would need to raise property taxes to cover it. We know that would happen because the commission has had little stomach to take on their union.

He also failed to mention that the county commissioners are trying to increase our current property tax 15 percent for next year's budget, as they are giving the county firefighters a 3.1'percent budget increase.

How about the county firefighters live within their means, as do the average taxpayers? I believe that they should be treated fairly, and if you read their contract, boy, are they ever. I also believe that the same fairness should be afforded the taxpayer.

RON ESPOSITO

Lake Worth

Editor's note: Gov. Crist signed Senate Bill 1000, which allows counties to hold a vote on increasing the sales tax to pay for fire-rescue services.

Lawmakers penny-wise on public education

Since we can't depend on the legislative or executive branches to protect Florida's children (or the state constitution), I guess we'll have to rely on the judiciary.

I propose a constitutional amendment that would define the state's financial obligation to local school districts as follows: The amount spent per elementary, middle school and high school student should be what it was in 2008 plus 20 percent (to make up for what they've stolen from students in the past few years) plus an annual adjustment for inflation using the federal Consumer Price Index. After this passes, we'll work on a similar amendment for college students.

The financing of public education seems to be the area of public interest in which our "fearless leaders" in Tallahassee are most penny-wise and pound foolish.

LARRY LITTLE

Royal Palm Beach

Medicare increase will cut overall benefits

You have reported that Social Security benefits are not expected to increase in 2010 and 2011. Wouldn't it be fairer if you let your readers know that for about one-fourth of Social Security recipients, the amount they receive will go down in 2010 as their Part B Medicare premiums rise, and then go down again in 2011 as Part B goes up again? Meanwhile, the other recipients' payments may not increase, but would not go down, at least.

INGE LYNCH

Boca Raton

Constant criticism of president is sickening

I am neither an economist, a war strategist nor a political analyst. Neither is 90 percent of the population of the United States. We elect those in power to be the experts. I see a nation of people who are perched to criticize everything our new president does. No president in my lifetime was as hated and disrespected as George W. Bush. Now, second verse, same as the first.

President Obama is ripped apart on a daily basis, from how he handles the economy to how he extends his hand for a handshake. His wife's choice of clothing and what china she uses for a tea party is up for scrutiny. We have become a nation of bullies and tabloidmongers. It is sickening.
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Feds Issue First Offshore Wind Energy Leases

For the first time, the federal government has issued offshore wind leases to explore the potential of the energy source.

The New York Times reports the five leases will be for areas 6 to 18 miles off the New Jersey and Delaware coasts:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has made offshore wind energy a priority, acknowledged that the United States was playing catch-up to European countries, like Denmark or the Netherlands, which have long focused on alternative energy.

A variety of local and political hurdles have so far prevented wind farms from being built off American coasts.

“Other nations have been using offshore wind energy for more than a decade,” Mr. Salazar said in a statement. “The technology is proven, effective and available and can create new jobs for Americans while reducing our expensive and dangerous dependence on foreign oil.”

The leases were granted to Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy; Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey; Deepwater Wind, and Bluewater Wind Delaware.

Some estimates say that the wind could provide 20 percent of the country’s energy needs by 2030, and offshore wind power generation could play a significant role in that number.
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