Charter Communications to close Worcester call center, move jobs elsewhere

WORCESTER ― Charter Communications will shutter call center operations at its Higgins Street location.

The call center employs 174 people at 95 Higgins St., the company said Thursday.

The company plans to move its operations out of the location by June 26.

“We have elected to transition this work to our other U.S.-based call centers where we can deliver information, training and technology to our representatives more efficiently,” a spokesperson for Charter said.

Those currently working at the call center are being given the option to relocate to other locations and are eligible to receive relocation benefits, the spokesperson said.

Current employees are also being offered severance benefits, “which include salary continuation, continuation of the company contribution toward health insurance, and outplacement services.”

In the Northeast, Charter has call centers at its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut; in Portland, Maine; and several in New York state.

While the call center is set to close, a spokesperson said the building at 95 Higgins St., which the company owns, will still house operations of field technicians and Spectrum News TV.

“We will continue to have a strong presence across our MA service area,” the company said.

The City of Worcester has been in negotiations with Charter over a new cable contract; city spokesman Thomas Matthews said the call center closing will not impact those negotiations or the current contract.

In May, some members of the city’s Cable TV Advisory Committee resigned to protest City Manager Eric D. Batista’s decision to negotiate a new franchise license agreement with Spectrum. The members said Spectrum had failed to live up to the terms of the existing deal.