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In the News
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Good news for mine country
Sorenson call center will bring over 100 needed jobs to Price
By Paul Beebe, The Salt Lake Tribune
Carbon and Emery counties, still coping with the Crandall Canyon mine collapse, got some good news Wednesday when Sorenson Communications Inc. said it will open a call center in Price that is expected to employ more than 100 people by the end of next year.
The two central Utah counties have been hit hard by the coal mine catastrophe in August, when six miners were entombed and three rescuers were killed. Hundreds of miners working for UtahAmerican Energy and its parent, Murray Energy Corp., have been laid off or idled.
Now, Price is getting an economic boost from Salt Lake City-based Sorenson, which provides communications services to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
About 50 people are scheduled to go to work in January or February in a temporary center in the former Utah Division of Wildlife Services building. Additional employees will be hired as demand increases.
"It's a ray of sunlight in a cloudy sky. I think it's wonderful, but it would be welcome anytime," Price Mayor Joe Piccolo said after a news conference at Sorenson's headquarters. Piccolo's father was killed in a mining accident 50 years ago.
The center will help deaf and hard-of-hearing people communicate from any computer or mobile device with hearing telephone users. A hearing-impaired individual will send text messages through the Internet to a Sorenson employee who will call the hearing person and read the message. The hearing person responds orally, and the employee types the message back to the hearing-impaired person.
At the news conference, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. lauded Sorenson executives for choosing Price for the center. Emery and Carbon counties have suffered greatly in the past four months, the governor said.
"And now we have Sorenson Communications that steps up and does what I think is one of the most important things that anyone can do in a community . . . and that's offer jobs, because in the end there's nothing more powerful that you can give a family or an individual than a job," Huntsman said.
The center will move next summer to a larger building under construction at 600 West and 200 South, Nola said.
About 60 percent of the jobs will be full time, paying $9 an hour, plus health insurance, a 401(k) retirement program and vacation benefits. Part-time workers will earn $9.50 an hour but will not receive health benefits. They will be eligible for the 401(k) program if they work at least 1,000 hours a year.
"Price is a terrific city," Nola said. "We think it's going to be a beautiful fit between our company and the citizens of Price. We think it's a great work opportunity."
The unemployment rate in Carbon County was 4.1 percent in October, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. It was 3.6 percent in Emery County, home of the Crandall Canyon mine. The state's rate is 2.8 percent.
Mike McCandless, Emery County's economic development director, welcomed Sorenson's announcement, noting that the economies of both counties are intertwined.
"Carbon and Emery counties are one economic unit, and certainly any new business helps us both. . . . We're thrilled to have any kind of employment."
McCandless is concerned that Sorenson's wages may be higher than those offered by five other call centers in coal country.
"Is a wage war bad for the county? No, as long as it doesn't hurt the ability of existing businesses to keep their workers," he said.
"Our labor market is tightening up. Hopefully, we can coordinate with the owners of the new call center so it's good for everybody," McCandless said.
Delynn Fielding, Carbon County's economic development director, said Sorenson is a "very progressive, rapidly growing company" whose presence will help the area's economy.
Five years ago, Sorenson employed 35 people. Today, the company has 3,500 employees, including 500 in Utah.
* MIKE GORRELL contributed to this story.
From The Salt Lake Tribune. Reprinted with permission.
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