Williams Companies lays off workers and decides against relocating some jobs into Tulsa

Williams Companies have bad news and more bad news Tuesday. <br><br>The company laid off 50 additional people from its troubled Energy Trading unit Tuesday. But even worse, the company decided against

Tuesday, February 11th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Williams Companies have bad news and more bad news Tuesday.

The company laid off 50 additional people from its troubled Energy Trading unit Tuesday. But even worse, the company decided against moving several hundred jobs from Houston to Tulsa.

News on Six business reporter Steve Berg says it's a double whammy for Tulsa. The company had been talking about moving its Gas Pipeline unit from Houston to Tulsa. And the Oklahoma Legislature and the city of Tulsa were both working on some financial incentives to "encourage" Williams to make the move.

But Williams says even with those, it's not a cost-effective move, and they've decided against it. That's bad news for Tulsa, because city leaders were hoping to offset the 600 or so local Williams jobs that were lost in 2002.

Speaking of layoffs, there was more Tuesday from the company's trouble Energy Trading unit, about 50. We caught up with some workers who say they got plenty of notice, plenty of severance pay, and were still very complimentary of their former employer.

Former employee John Davis, â€œIt was a great experience here, it was my first job out of college. I made a lot of good friends and it was a great work experience and I'm not bitter at all, I wish the best for the rest of the company and I hope they're successful." Another former employee Melissa Clegg, "They're hoping to turn it around and really come back. It's a great company, it's great to work for, and itâ€™s been an incredible experience."

The Energy Trading unit is down to about 350 people. At its peak, it had 880. So the bleeding continues.