Tellabs Lays Off 150 and Closes Sales Offices

BURLINGTON, MA-Tellabs, an Illinois-based communications equipment maker laid off 150 employees in this state and will close sales and development offices here and in Wilmington and Bedford. The moves here are part of a corporate-wide cutback.

The company will maintain a research and sales operation in Chelmsford where it employs 100 people, but it will also be closing an office in Germantown, Maryland and parts of its Illinois operations. As part of the recent cutbacks, management salaries will also be reduced, pay hikes will be eliminated and discretionary spending will be cut. These latest cutbacks and closings come on the heels of additional cutbacks in the first quarter of the year when Tellabs laid off 450 temporary and contract jobs and eliminated 1,100 vacant jobs.