Employees at NiSource Inc.'s call center in Smithfield, Fayette County, who days ago were sweating possible job losses, now will be gaining more work and workers.
Vertex Outsourcing LLC, the English company that IBM hired to operate the Smithfield call center, is looking for roughly 150 employees at its new facility, according to advertisements placed at the Pennsylvania CareerLink office in Uniontown. Vertex also is sponsoring a two-day career fair at the CareerLink Uniontown location ending today. Roughly 170 employees now work at Smithfield and are expected to become Vertex employees on July 1.
"This agreement between NiSource and IBM will mean the closing of call centers in Lexington (Ky.) and Marble Cliff (a suburb of Columbus, Ohio)," said NiSource spokesman Rob Boulware, who would not comment further.
IBM and NiSource last week announced a $1.6 billion support service contract, under which some 572 NiSource employees would join IBM or its designated subcontractor, with an additional 445 positions eliminated by year-end 2006. The deal is expected to save Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource, the parent of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, $530 million over the life of the 10-year deal.
