More layoffs for Williams

Williams Companies has laid off an additional 63 workers, reducing its labor force to just over half what it was a year ago. <br><br>Williams laid off 54 information technology workers in Tulsa, eight

Saturday, April 19th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Williams Companies has laid off an additional 63 workers, reducing its labor force to just over half what it was a year ago.

Williams laid off 54 information technology workers in Tulsa, eight more in Houston and one in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

The cuts reduce the Tulsa-based energy giant's work force to about 65-hundred, down from more than 12-thousand at the beginning of 2002.

The company has reduced its Tulsa employees from 3-thousand to 21-hundred since early 2002.

Williams has been cutting costs and selling assets to recover from forays into telecommunications and energy trading. Those depressed businesses have given Williams hefty losses and huge debts.

Williams has sold or agreed to sell two-point-one (b) billion dollars in assets this year, after unloading about five (b) billion dollars worth last year.