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BankAmerica sees job cuts
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January 12, 1999: 3:05 p.m. ET
But company denies chairman specifies 18,000 reduction in interview
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - BankAmerica Corp. chairman Hugh McColl says the recently merged company plans to reduce its workforce by an unspecified number over the next three to four years, primarily through attrition.
But company spokesmen deny that McColl, in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, specified that about 18,000 positions will be eliminated by BankAmerica over the next three to four years.
"That is not a number that we are going with," says Melba Spencer, a BankAmerica spokeswoman. She says the Chronicle may have interpreted some of McColl's comments "speculating what the company's work force might look like three to four years in the future'' in obtaining the 18,000 figure.
Spencer also says that while some parts of the company may eliminate jobs over the next few years, other units may be adding jobs as the company responds to business changes.
"He told us that the company has about 180,000 workers, and that when all is said and done over the next few years, there would be about 10 percent less," says Chronicle financial editor Kathleen Pender in response to the BankAmerica reaction.
BankAmerica (BAC), formed last year through the merger of San Francisco-based Bank of America and Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank, previously indicated it would eliminate between 5,000 and 8,000 employees as a result of the merger.
Spencer says that some of those jobs would be eliminated through layoffs, although the actual method of job elimination won't be determined until the two companies have been completely combined over a 2-year period.
McColl is visiting California in an effort to shore up relations with officials jilted by the merger and the subsequent move of corporate headquarters to North Carolina. The officials, including San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, have expressed concern that the bank may cut lending and charitable activities in the state now that it is no longer based there.
BankAmerica shares were down 2-1/2 to 67-7/16 in Tuesday afternoon trading.
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