West Cuts Jobs After 'Unforeseeable' Contract Cancellation

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West, which provides UCaaS, conferencing and collaboration solutions in the channel, is laying off nearly 150 workers in Wisconsin after a major client suddenly canceled its contract with the company.

The layoffs include 112 workers in Middleton and 36 in Green Bay. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, West’s portfolio includes UC services, safety services, interactive services such as automated notifications, telecom services and specialty agent services.

West’s Dave Pleiss

“The layoffs were announced last week and affect employees in our revenue-generation line of business,” said Dave Pleiss, West’s vice president of investor and public relations. “The employees will be with us through the month of August.”

In notices filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, West said it’s laying off workers because of the “unexpected and unforeseeable” contract cancellation. West isn’t disclosing either the name of the company or the industry in which is operates, Pleiss said.

Of the nearly 150 employees losing their jobs, 130 are sales associates and eight are revenuegeneration sales managers. The revenue generation business provides outsourced business-to-business sales services to companies in health care, financial services, manufacturing, communications, hospitality, retail and others.

The employees will continue to receive their same level of pay and benefits until their layoff date unless, for example, they resign or retire, or are “discharged for good cause,” according to West. The job cuts are permanent.

West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America.