WILLIAMS Communications hopes this week's layoffs will help stock price

People are getting laid off at Williams Communications, one of Tulsa's largest employers. <br><br>KOTV's Emory Bryan says Williams has 4,500 employees total, 3,200 of them here in Tulsa, but is

Tuesday, July 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

People are getting laid off at Williams Communications, one of Tulsa's largest employers.

KOTV's Emory Bryan says Williams has 4,500 employees total, 3,200 of them here in Tulsa, but is trimming its ranks by about 500 people. The pink slips began circulating Friday, with a number of both contract and regular employees being told they were no longer needed. The company told employees they would get two weeks severance pay.

Williams is hurting because of the stock market slump that has hit technology stocks particulary hard. In the last year, Williams Communication stock has dropped from $32 down to $3 a share. Howard Janzen, Williams Communications CEO: "And eventually investers are going to take the time to sort out the winners and the losers and we're going to be on that list of winners." Janzen is hoping that by trimming the staff, the company will get a boost on Wall Street, but so far, the stock is only up by about 20-cents a share.

The company says the layoffs will be done by the middle of the week.