Florida company to create 500 jobs — in Texas
Aug 12, 2011
The following article was published in the St. Petersburg Times on August 12, 2011:
Florida Company to create 500 jobs in Texas
By Michael C. Bender
A recent announcement from a Florida-based call center to create 500 jobs at a pair of Texas locations has added another wrinkle to competition between the governors of each state.
C3/CustomerContactChannel announced this month that it will add 2,000 jobs at locations in Arizona, Idaho, Utah and Texas.
The Plantation-based company outsources call services for health insurance companies and other industries. It claims more than 3,500 employees and five call centers across the globe.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry joked about the C3 news to some Floridians at a book signing Thursday in San Antonio, Texas, where the National Conference of State Legislatures is holding its annual meeting.
“Just got off the phone with your governor who’s angry because Texas stole some jobs from Florida,” Perry said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has made job creation his No. 1 goal and competition with his Texas counterpart a close No. 2. One of his campaign promises was to create “over 700,000 jobs for the state of Florida.”
It’s been a tough month so far for Scott on the job-creation front. Vision Airlines, a company that helped usher in Scott’s term with expansion plans in Panama City, said Monday that it would cancel service from Northwest Florida Regional Airport to more than half of its current destinations.
Scott is hoping for good news Aug. 19, when the state’s new unemployment report is scheduled to be released.
“We’ve got a lot of companies that we’re talking to about moving jobs down here,” Scott said Thursday morning on WCOA-AM in Pensacola. “People want to live here. People want to work here.”
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