WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Mike Michaud sent a letter signed by 61 of his colleagues to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging them to focus on job retention and creation as the agency reviews the proposed merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications. T-Mobile has a call center located in Maine, which employees over 500 workers.

"We are aware that MetroPCS outsources its entire customer service operation, and a number of its vendor call centers are located in the Philippines and Central America. We are also aware that T-Mobile recently closed seven U.S. call centers, displacing 3,300 employees. We do not want the merger to lead to a reduction of American jobs and an expansion of offshore facilities," wrote Michaud and his colleagues.

Michaud has been working with a bipartisan group of members of Congress to fight the offshoring of call center jobs, pushing legislation that would encourage the relocation of call centers back to the United States by preventing corporations that do offshore call center jobs from receiving federal grants and loans.

The full text of the letter send today can be found here.