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diehardbiker, can you please tell, why there is no spanish service and no longer used because of the layoffs?
Sorenson STILL laid off people after getting rates they wanted
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They no longer service for spanish? UM, im not sure but suggest you to call Sorenson CIR via VP. they may give you a actual information not "misinformation from deaf people and posts hell"
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Actually no, it's not misinformation, because I have called the actual service and waited for the terp 45 mins...so I knew something was up.
Um, something's strange because I did SIRELAY and they did not ask me for those information.
diehardbiker
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Honestly, I have no idea of whats going on with other departments. I only know my department. It is company wide that is being affect, but to extent, I don't know.
Basically, they are doing what is called "Cost cutting" measure. It is better than shut down completely as IF FCC adopts 3.89 per minute.
Basically, they are doing what is called "Cost cutting" measure. It is better than shut down completely as IF FCC adopts 3.89 per minute.
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Eh? It's not related to SIPREALY, I am talking about the actual service: on VP
Allright thanks.
diehardbiker
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Your welcome, sorry forgot to mention that I have not heard that Spanish Relay has been shut down. Its RapidOVRS and I believe it still running.
So far all I know there is none of customer direct services (SIPrelay, RapidoVRS, CIR, Tech Support and SorensonVRS) that has shut down. So it is good news.
So far all I know there is none of customer direct services (SIPrelay, RapidoVRS, CIR, Tech Support and SorensonVRS) that has shut down. So it is good news.
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I know both of them pretty well, and yes, it's the hardest hit compare to other. I felt badly for them.
DeafWarrior
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Like ALL the VRS providers, SVRS is a business. It makes decisions based on profit. Do not be fooled by other providers either. Now that SVRS is feeling the goverment "love" the other will soon follow. Yes, it is called corporate greed, all the VRS providers management teams have it. They will come out and say that they want to make our lives better, but all they truly care about is their own pockets. Do not be fooled by the "nice" people that you talk to, in their core a lot of these providers will step all over their employees to make a dollar.
This needs to be clarification, the answer to the question whether Sorenson has closed or not. The answer is simple, no we are not closing Sorenson. I still have job with Sorenson.
You still can call and use Sorenson VRS. They are still there, also you still can contact Sorenson Tech Support and CIR at any time. They are there to assist you, however the waiting time might or might not be longer than used to be.
If you need Technical support we are still here to help you.
For more information, here is the source that you are waiting for.
Layoffs Explained | Sorenson VRS®
Ew. There's a video of Ron Turdett. I'm sorry, and maybe you feel differently, but I don't trust him. Of course, he's blaming the FCC for apparently reducing the flow of free money. It's not the FCC's fault that Sorenson had to layoff some people.
posts from hell
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NH call center was given only 20 minutes heads up...
Then there's the investor $130,000,000 obligation that Sorenson had to make. Boooom.. That's what got Sorenson. Not the FCC.
Sorenson does have the most efficient VRS service, thats why the FCC looked at their cost vs profit - They wanted tier 1,2,3 to have 11% profit. At $3.86 or so, it would have shown Sorenson to make 11% profit overall, BUT due to some fancy financial issues - Sorenson had other people to please.
The FCC were forced into a position to provide Sorenson with some leeway because if they shut down, where would the consumers go to? That is very bad for the Deaf community because the consumers will flock to other VRS companies, and they will not be equipped in a timely manner to handle the amount of exodus.
Now you see what my beef is?
NH call center was given only 20 minutes heads up...
Then there's the investor $130,000,000 obligation that Sorenson had to make. Boooom.. That's what got Sorenson. Not the FCC.
Sorenson does have the most efficient VRS service, thats why the FCC looked at their cost vs profit - They wanted tier 1,2,3 to have 11% profit. At $3.86 or so, it would have shown Sorenson to make 11% profit overall, BUT due to some fancy financial issues - Sorenson had other people to please.
The FCC were forced into a position to provide Sorenson with some leeway because if they shut down, where would the consumers go to? That is very bad for the Deaf community because the consumers will flock to other VRS companies, and they will not be equipped in a timely manner to handle the amount of exodus.
Now you see what my beef is?
That is rather dismaying, I admit. Do you know of any other VRS company who are equipped?
posts from hell
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I dont know of any. Purple is the next biggest... I am pretty sure that they arent that equipped to handle the "if sorenson shut down" thing.
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But all deaf employees including me no longer be independent contractors. Purple still own part of 18 millions to FCC this year.
zerodog
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7,000 more left for Sorenson employee lay off
Sorenson have lied to employee even those that but wouldn't be surprise if the VRS become chaos after if Purple not able being paid off before the deadline.
Employee have trust the management word but betray and hurt like a bomb shell shock each one of us.
Sorenson have lied to employee even those that but wouldn't be surprise if the VRS become chaos after if Purple not able being paid off before the deadline.
Employee have trust the management word but betray and hurt like a bomb shell shock each one of us.
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one of us? So you work for Sorenson as well?
Thirty-five employees of a company providing video interpretation services for deaf and partially deaf people placing telephone calls were laid off when Sorenson Communications shut down its Concord office this week.
The office in the Gateway Center, 25 Hall St., was closed Wednesday by the Salt Lake City-based corporation as part of nationwide layoffs and cost-cutting prompted by a reduction in payments the firm receives from the Federal Communications Commission, a senior company official said.
"Operational adjustments were made across the board, across the company, at all levels of management," said Paul Kershisnik, the private corporation's chief marketing officer. "It wasn't a focused reduction in force. It was a very broad approach."
Kershisnik declined to say how many of Sorenson's roughly 6,000 employees are being let go because the layoffs won't be finished until today. He said "a very small number" of offices will be entirely shut down.
The Concord office was the firm's only center in New Hampshire and employed 35 people, he said, including interpreters and management.
Among the company's other spending cuts, Kershisnik said, were "significant pay reductions" for senior executives. He said his own pay was cut more than 15 percent.
Karen Braz, 54, a Weare resident and full-time interpreter for the Manchester School District, had worked part time at Sorenson's Concord office for about 16 months. She said she was one of perhaps two dozen American Sign Language interpreters there.
She and several other employees were called into a meeting Wednesday morning with company executives and were told, "We are closing the center as of today. You have 20 minutes to gather your things. We have boxes. That's it. You're done. Goodbye," Braz said yesterday. "And we were shell-shocked, to say the least."
Other employees were told by phone, Braz said.
After leaving the office, Braz and her former co-workers went next door to Burger King, "to have a milkshake because it was too early to go drinking," she said.
Labor Commissioner George Copadis said the state didn't receive notification of a mass layoff from the company. Sixty days' notice is required for companies with 75 or more full-time employees in New Hampshire to shut down a facility or lay off more than a third of the company's workforce.
Sorenson Communications describes itself as the nation's leading provider of video relay service, or VRS, which allows deaf people to place and receive phone calls over the internet by means of American Sign Language. Using video equipment, the deaf person signs to an interpreter in Concord or one of Sorenson's other offices. The message is then spoken to a hearing person on the other end of the line, or vice versa.
The video-based phone system is an improvement over typing-based systems, Braz said.
"It's like night and day," she said. "The technology is astounding."
But a change in how the FCC reimburses Sorenson and other VRS providers forced the company to dramatically cut its costs, Kershisnik said.
The FCC pays Sorenson to cover the cost of providing the video relay and other services in an attempt to ensure equal access to telecommunications for all Americans. But the per-minute rate for VRS of $6.24 was reduced last month to $5.07 for Sorenson and other providers with a high volume of calls.
Kershisnik said the new rate, which will be in effect for a year while the FCC conducts a broad review of its VRS policies, is less than the company's actual operating costs.
Sorenson asked the FCC to delay the new rate, but the request was denied, Kershisnik said. The company then filed an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The company's request to delay the new rate was denied in an order dated July 29.
Kershisnik said the company will continue the appeal, but the process of reviewing the FCC's new policy could take nine to 12 months.
"Since they denied our stay at the outset . . . that's when we knew that we had no recourse but to make these operational adjustments," he said.
In a June 29 press release, Sorenson Communications warned it would have "to make certain operational changes and cost reductions" because of the FCC's lower interim rate.
Kershisnik said the company and other providers will work with the FCC over the next year as the federal agency determines a new per-minute rate "so that the rates can really support . . . a real strong and robust interpreting community."
Reference:
Leubsdorf, B. (2010, August 6). Interpreters for the deaf out of jobs. Retrieved August 6, 2010,
from Concord Monitor website: http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/interpreters-for-the-deaf-out-of-jobs?page=0,0
The office in the Gateway Center, 25 Hall St., was closed Wednesday by the Salt Lake City-based corporation as part of nationwide layoffs and cost-cutting prompted by a reduction in payments the firm receives from the Federal Communications Commission, a senior company official said.
"Operational adjustments were made across the board, across the company, at all levels of management," said Paul Kershisnik, the private corporation's chief marketing officer. "It wasn't a focused reduction in force. It was a very broad approach."
Kershisnik declined to say how many of Sorenson's roughly 6,000 employees are being let go because the layoffs won't be finished until today. He said "a very small number" of offices will be entirely shut down.
The Concord office was the firm's only center in New Hampshire and employed 35 people, he said, including interpreters and management.
Among the company's other spending cuts, Kershisnik said, were "significant pay reductions" for senior executives. He said his own pay was cut more than 15 percent.
Karen Braz, 54, a Weare resident and full-time interpreter for the Manchester School District, had worked part time at Sorenson's Concord office for about 16 months. She said she was one of perhaps two dozen American Sign Language interpreters there.
She and several other employees were called into a meeting Wednesday morning with company executives and were told, "We are closing the center as of today. You have 20 minutes to gather your things. We have boxes. That's it. You're done. Goodbye," Braz said yesterday. "And we were shell-shocked, to say the least."
Other employees were told by phone, Braz said.
After leaving the office, Braz and her former co-workers went next door to Burger King, "to have a milkshake because it was too early to go drinking," she said.
Labor Commissioner George Copadis said the state didn't receive notification of a mass layoff from the company. Sixty days' notice is required for companies with 75 or more full-time employees in New Hampshire to shut down a facility or lay off more than a third of the company's workforce.
Sorenson Communications describes itself as the nation's leading provider of video relay service, or VRS, which allows deaf people to place and receive phone calls over the internet by means of American Sign Language. Using video equipment, the deaf person signs to an interpreter in Concord or one of Sorenson's other offices. The message is then spoken to a hearing person on the other end of the line, or vice versa.
The video-based phone system is an improvement over typing-based systems, Braz said.
"It's like night and day," she said. "The technology is astounding."
But a change in how the FCC reimburses Sorenson and other VRS providers forced the company to dramatically cut its costs, Kershisnik said.
The FCC pays Sorenson to cover the cost of providing the video relay and other services in an attempt to ensure equal access to telecommunications for all Americans. But the per-minute rate for VRS of $6.24 was reduced last month to $5.07 for Sorenson and other providers with a high volume of calls.
Kershisnik said the new rate, which will be in effect for a year while the FCC conducts a broad review of its VRS policies, is less than the company's actual operating costs.
Sorenson asked the FCC to delay the new rate, but the request was denied, Kershisnik said. The company then filed an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The company's request to delay the new rate was denied in an order dated July 29.
Kershisnik said the company will continue the appeal, but the process of reviewing the FCC's new policy could take nine to 12 months.
"Since they denied our stay at the outset . . . that's when we knew that we had no recourse but to make these operational adjustments," he said.
In a June 29 press release, Sorenson Communications warned it would have "to make certain operational changes and cost reductions" because of the FCC's lower interim rate.
Kershisnik said the company and other providers will work with the FCC over the next year as the federal agency determines a new per-minute rate "so that the rates can really support . . . a real strong and robust interpreting community."
Reference:
Leubsdorf, B. (2010, August 6). Interpreters for the deaf out of jobs. Retrieved August 6, 2010,
from Concord Monitor website: http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/interpreters-for-the-deaf-out-of-jobs?page=0,0
EyesBlueDeaf
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This needs to be clarification, the answer to the question whether Sorenson has closed or not. The answer is simple, no we are not closing Sorenson. I still have job with Sorenson.
You still can call and use Sorenson VRS. They are still there, also you still can contact Sorenson Tech Support and CIR at any time. They are there to assist you, however the waiting time might or might not be longer than used to be.
If you need Technical support we are still here to help you.
For more information, here is the source that you are waiting for.
Layoffs Explained | Sorenson VRS®
Thanks for sharing the link. I understand what Sorenson has to do BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND how regional and district managers decided on who to lay off and who not to lay off... A person who was the LAST one to be hired still has the job.. All of us got laid off. And now there is only one full timer and one part timer in NJ and the rest from NY trainers are taking over NJ. Pretty disgusting, ain't it?!?!
EyesBlueDeaf
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LOL.. look at his office... his clothes... his appearances - nicely tanned... he looks like he's well fed... he didn't look very devastated.. I'm pretty sure the cuts have no impacts on people who work in the corporation. :roll:
H
HoHGuyOhio
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The cuts have an impact on EVERYONE. Members of management had to lay off their friends. People they cared about and worked with for YEARS. I know managers who SOBBED at what they've had to do, WHILE they were delivering the news.
I wish people could understand that VRS is a BUSINESS. Businesses are in it to provide a service, yes, but also to make money. Occasionally, tough decisions have to be made. Yes, it is very tough for those who lost their jobs. But it is also tough for those who had to choose who would get laid off and who would keep their job. It's hard on everyone.
I wish people could understand that VRS is a BUSINESS. Businesses are in it to provide a service, yes, but also to make money. Occasionally, tough decisions have to be made. Yes, it is very tough for those who lost their jobs. But it is also tough for those who had to choose who would get laid off and who would keep their job. It's hard on everyone.