MERIDEN - For the second time this year, AT&T has closed a call center and shifted jobs out of state.

AT&T announced Wednesday that it was closing its dispatch center and laying off 60 employees at its Deerfield Lane operation. The work will be performed by employees in Southfield, Mich.

Earlier this year, AT&T shut down its 611 call center in a move that impacted 200 employees.

Wednesday's announcement infuriated union representatives and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who accused the company of illegally damaging its service record and employees for profits.

"Dispatchers in Michigan cannot do troubleshooting and direct repair service in Connecticut homes," Blumenthal told affected workers. "They do not know Connecticut and cannot properly prioritize work and provide equal, adequate levels of service."

AT&T's service record has been criticized by Blumenthal, the Communication Workers of America - which represents the workers - the state's Office of Consumer Counsel and Gov. M. Jodi Rell. The governor sent a letter to AT&T's chief executive officer, Randall Stephenson, in August outlining her concerns about the company's service record. She never received a response, according to a spokesman in her office.

AT&T has 1.6 million land lines in the state and the dispatch center services those customers. By state law, 90 percent of all phones must be repaired within 24 hours. The average wait time for AT&T to respond is two days, Blumenthal said.

"AT&T's customer service has deteriorated after the company eliminated nearly 1,000 customer service related jobs in recent years," Blumenthal said. "These latest layoffs will further degrade customer care, in clear violation of legal standards."

AT&T's service record is scheduled for an investigation by the state Department of Public Utility Control in January. Blumenthal, the state's Office of Consumer Counsel and the union have been granted intervenor status in the probe.

On Wednesday, Rell joined Blumenthal and the union in asking that the DPUC push up the investigation. They also asked the agency to consider the latest call center closure when evaluating the telecommunications company.

"AT&T taunts the DPUC even during our regulatory review," Blumenthal said. "Dismantling its last remaining residential customer service dispatcher jobs, even while under DPUC review for its failing repair and maintenance, dramatizes the depth of AT&T's arrogance and indifference for consumers and employees."

AT&T spokesman Adam Cormier said the Michigan employees are members of the same union, so no union members are losing jobs. He added that the cuts were part of the company's plan to consolidate its land-line service operations and focus on its growth sector, wireless telecommunications and AT&T's U-verse broadband product. Displaced employees will be offered severance packages or other jobs within the company, he said.

"We're hiring for a lot of positions in Connecticut," Cormier said. "If they want to stay in Connecticut, they have a guaranteed job offer."

Cormier took exception to criticism that out-of-state workers can't direct repairs within the state's borders. Workers in Connecticut have been handling servicing requests in other states for years and there is no reason it can't work in reverse, he said.

The dispatch jobs paid about $25 per hour; jobs as U-verse technicians or operators pay about half that, the workers and union representatives said.

DPUC spokeswoman Beryl Lyons said the regulatory agency would consider the call center's closure when it reviews AT&T's service record. She also said commission members were discussing possibly moving up the probe.

The DPUC does have jurisdiction over how AT&T services its customers, and whether its existing operation is effective. But it's too soon to tell whether it can ask the company to restore lost jobs, Lyons said.

"We absolutely do have jurisdiction over the quality of service that a utility provides," Lyons said, "and how best to address those quality-of-services issues. But we don't know what the responses will be."

According to Bill Henderson, president of Local 1298 of the union, AT&T has had 84 continuous months of failing to meet minimum levels of service to Connecticut customers. He compared the company's corporate culture to greed on Wall Street.

"Once again, AT&T's promise to grow jobs in Connecticut is an empty one," Henderson said. "This once again shows a total lack of respect for our state, its workers and their families. They've had 14 consecutive quarters of double-digit profits. They are not growing their business, they're doing it by eating their own. If they can send bills to the people of Connecticut, they can keep jobs in Connecticut."

Paget O'Connor of Wallingford is one of 60 workers whose positions will be eliminated. O'Connor is a single mother, with a child in college and a mortgage. She said she'll review the severance package before deciding what to do now that she's unemployed. After being with the company for more than 20 years, O'Connor is unsure where to turn for a new career from which she can retire.

"The economy has been hit," O'Connor said. "If you're in your 40s or 50s, that amount of money isn't going to help you retire. It's a discrimination against age."

The workers said most of them had been with the company for more than 20 years, dating back to when it was Southern New England Telephone.

Bonnie Sozansk of Terryville carried the health insurance for her family after her husband lost his manufacturing job five years ago. The couple has a daughter with spina bifida and now that she's lost her job, Sozansk doesn't think she can maintain the same level of care on state insurance.

Both women said they were glad the governor, the attorney general and other state officials were fighting on their behalf.

"Ours is the cry out there," O'Connor said. "They are the wheels behind the motion."