Most of the account maintenance jobs will be shifted to centers in San Antonio; Columbus, Ohio; and Houston, Hassell said.
But, what a surprise, Albion, New York, is keeping its 800 call-center jobs. See if you can guess why:
The future of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 800-job call center in Albion has been a source of worry amid a financial crisis that roiled the economy and eliminated jobs.
But Sen. Charles E. Schumer said the company has assured him the center will remain open “for the long term” and called the decision “a huge victory for the Finger Lakes and Western New York…”
You know, Chuck Schumer, powerful member of the Senate Finance Committee and long-time defender of Wall Street interests. Think he had something to do with that?
Schumer, a Democrat who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, met last February with Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive officer, to urge the company to make a long-term commitment to the center.
Wink wink. Just a couple of examples of how the too-big-to-fail boys throw their weight around.
That Jamie Dimon, he’s a savvy political guy. No wonder there was (incredibly) talk of making him Treasury Secretary.
Kaptur spoke of her problems with JP Morgan before on Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/watch.html
"MARCY KAPTUR: Let me give you a reality from ground zero in Toledo, Ohio. Our foreclosures have gone up 94 percent. A few months ago, I met with our realtors. And I said, 'What should I know?' They said, 'Well, first of all, you should know the worst companies that are doing this to us.'
MARCY KAPTUR: I said, 'Well, give me the top one.' They said, 'J.P. Morgan Chase.' I went back to Washington that night. And one of my colleagues said, 'You want to come to dinner?' I said, 'Well, what is it?' He said, 'Well, it's a meeting with Jamie Dimon, the head of J.P. Morgan Chase.' I said, 'Wow, yes. I really do.' So, I go to this meeting in a fancy hotel, fancy dinner, and everyone is complimenting him. I mean, it was just like a love fest.
MARCY KAPTUR: They finally got to me, and my point to ask a question. I said, 'Well, I don't want to speak out of turn here, Mr. Dimon.' I said, 'But your company is the largest forecloser in my district. And our Realtors just said to me this morning that your people don't return phone calls.' I said, 'We can't do work outs.' And he looked at me, he said, 'Do you know that I talk to your Governor all the time?' He said, 'Our company employs 10,000 people in Ohio.'
MARCY KAPTUR: And I'm thinking, 'What is that? A threat?' And he said, 'I speak to the Mayor of Columbus.' I said, 'Why don't you come further north?' I said, 'Toledo, Cleveland, where the foreclosures are just skyrocketing.' He said, 'Well, we'll have someone call you.' And he gave me a card. And they never did. For two weeks, we tried to reach them. And finally, I was on a national news show. And I told this story. They called within ten minutes. And they said, 'Oh, we'll work with you. We'll try to do some workouts in your area.'
We planned the first one after working with them for weeks and weeks and weeks. Their people never showed up. And it was a Friday. Our people had taken off work. They'd driven from all these locations to come. We kept calling J.P. Morgan Chase saying, 'Where's your person? Where's your person?' And they finally sent somebody down from Detroit by 3:00 in the afternoon. But out people had been waiting all morning and a lot of people that's how they treat our people."
Both her and Simon Johnson had interesting things to say. Marcy, about six minutes into the video, sounds really really angry as she relates the JP Morgan story.
And in other news, Matt Taibbi just penned a tragedy set in Jefferson County, Alabama,
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32906678/looting_main_street/print
JP. Morgan plays the part of Iago.
#1 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Thu 8 Apr 2010 at 12:22 PM
That is excellent. Many thanks for that, Thimbles.
#2 Posted by Ryan Chittum, CJR on Thu 8 Apr 2010 at 02:41 PM
I wonder if they're from Ohio.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63C5LO20100413
"The JPMorgan Chase & Co executive was at a congressional hearing in Washington when a lawmaker asked him who mortgage borrowers could turn to if they felt his bank's employees were not helping them hold onto their homes.
"Come to me," said David Lowman, chief executive for JPMorgan Chase & Co's home mortgage business in response to the question from Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank.
Minutes later, around 50 borrowers burst from the audience and presented Lowman with a 6-page document alleging his bank reneged on a pledge to help struggling homeowners.
The activist who organized the protest said Lowman did not want to talk and left the hearing.
"He ran. He ran like a dog with its tail between his legs," said Bruce Marks of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), which helps homeowners avoid foreclosure. "He was scared to death because he doesn't really want to talk to homeowners."
The incident is symptomatic of frustrations among U.S. homeowners as defaults and foreclosure filings dominate the housing sector more than three years after the property bubble began to deflate.
NACA organizes events where borrowers try to get loan modifications with lenders. The group says JPMorgan signed up to the NACA program but dropped out in December.
A JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment on the complaint."
#3 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 14 Apr 2010 at 02:15 PM