Budget Rent-A-Car to Close Call Centers in Lemoore, Calif., Toronto.

Publication: The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2003 The Fresno Bee

Byline: Tracy Correa

Sep. 24--LEMOORE, Calif. -- Budget Rent-A-Car will close its call center, laying off about 300 employees during the next six months.

Cendant Corp., which bought Budget after it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2002, will close its call centers in Lemoore and Toronto, Canada. The centers handle reservations.

Ted Deutsch, a spokesman for Cendant Car Rental Group in Parsippany, N.J., said about 300 jobs will be eliminated in Lemoore and another 170 in Toronto when the positions are phased out between December and March.

Deutsch called the closures a business decision to keep Budget solvent. "This is not al all any ill reflection on the Lemoore facility or its employees," he said.

The announcement surprised workers.

"Everybody...

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