By News Story From KVAL 13

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – An employee of Royal Caribbean says the staff has been told 700 jobs will be cut at the company’s Springfield call center, confirming an account by a maritime lawyer citing anonymous sources.

A person claiming to be a current Royal Caribbean employee had recently contacted this news organization with a similar account, asking to remain anonymous.

Another person whose employment at the call center has been confirmed came forward Wednesday and said the staff was told 700 jobs would be eliminated by the end of 2019.

A third person claiming to be a current employee said some of the Springfield employees were used to train workers in Jamaica in April “only to realize now that they trained their own replacements.”
The sources have asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions at work.

Royal Caribbean representatives would not comment Wednesday on the report published on CruiseLawNews.com by attorney Jim Walker.

A representative of the company in Springfield forwarded calls to the corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida, where a representative said they would respond Thursday.
Walker reports that “several current employees in Springfield contacted me to discuss the company’s plans.”

According to Walker’s account of what the employees told him, Royal Caribbean plans to outsource 85 to 90 percent of the jobs in Springfield to call centers in Guatemala and Jamaica. He estimates that amounts to over 700 jobs.

Walker said his sources declined to be named, citing Non-Disclosure Agreements with the company. Walker said his sources told him the company would not be offering severance pay to “most of the employees.”

In 2013, the company employed 600 people in Springfield and had plans to hire as many as 400 more over the next two years. Current employment numbers are not known.

IMAGE: A maritime lawyer citing anonymous sources says over 700 jobs at the Royal Caribbean call center in Springfield will be outsourced overseas by the end of 2019.

For more on this story go to: https://kval.com/news/local/report-royal-caribbean-to-cut-700-jobs-in-springfield-by-end-of-2019