57 St. Petersburg jobs cut as in-person tolls on Skyway eliminated

TTEC, a Colorado technology company, is laying off 57 employees in St. Petersburg who work on toll collection on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

The company announced the job cuts in letter to St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch, dated Feb. 13.

The Florida Department of Transportation has announced that it is transitioning to all-electronic tolls to ease congestion on the iconic span that crosses Tampa Bay.

The bridge connects St. Petersburg and Manatee County.

An FDOT official, Brian Hunter, told St. Petersburg City Council Feb. 5 that the department will begin construction to remove and replace the current tolling infrastructure “in the next couple of months.” The long-term plan, he said, is to install a toll gantry — a metal structure over the road with cameras to record vehicles passing through — on both ends of the bridge in the next few years. 

According to TTEC's letter, which was sent to meet federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requirements, the company will cease operations at the north and south end of the bridge April 14. All but one of the employees — 47 toll collectors, eight supervisors and one custodian — will be laid of on that day. A senior supervisor will stay on until April 30.

A TTEC spokesperson says in a Monday email that more layoffs are likely on the way, writing that the current WARN notice applies to employees "whose assignments are scheduled to conclude in April."

"As the client contract fully winds down, additional role impacts are expected and will be communicated in accordance with legal requirements," the spokesperson writes. "These actions are directly tied to the conclusion of this specific client contract."

The spokesperson did not respond to a follow up email asking how many total employees could be affected and a potential timeline.

TTEC is a global customer experience technology and services company that employs more than 54,000 people across 70 offices on six continents.

"We are actively working to identify other employment opportunities for impacted employees within TTEC and are committed to providing support throughout this transition," the spokesperson writes.