Tulsa impact of Williams Companies' layoffs

Everyone knew the axe was going to fall at Williams Companies. Still, many are surprised to find the company plans to cut its workforce nearly in half. That's according to published reports that

Monday, October 14th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Everyone knew the axe was going to fall at Williams Companies. Still, many are surprised to find the company plans to cut its workforce nearly in half. That's according to published reports that say Williams could reduce the number of employees from more than 11,000 worldwide, to around 6,000.

News on Six business reporter Steve Berg says in many cases, that axe has already been falling quietly over the past few weeks. We talked with one worker who was laid off about the latest news. "It bothers me, because I do love the company so." Cordie Gregory worked for nearly four years at Williams in the Human Resources department. And specialized in recruiting new workers. Not a good fit these days.

Over the past few months, she's watched the layoffs, a dozen here and a dozen there. "Sometimes it's more than 10 or 12, but for awhile, yes, it has been just a steady trickle." And the trickle may become a flood. Gregory was one of about 60 people let go from human resources.

And now the company is reportedly saying that if it makes all of its planned asset sales, the layoffs could total more than 5,000. "A tremendous cost on a very basic personal, human level, and a tremendous cost to the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma." Investment manager Fred Russell used to own nearly 200,000 shares of Williams stock until about a month ago. Not anymore. "I lost confidence in top management's clarity and business strategy."

One of the losers could be the United Way, which gets around 10% of its total contributions from Williams alone. But director Kathleen Coan says they predict the donation will still be significant. "We're really looking at this as our cup is half-full even though there are a lot of problems out there." Russell says the problem is Williams enormous debt load. He says the company is expected to pay $800-million this year just in interest. By his estimate, that amount would pay 12,000 workers at a salary of $50,000 a year. "The only difference between the debt and the employees is that you can't throw away the debt, but you can ask your employees to leave."

Keep in mind these cuts are company-wide. There's still talk about moving a thousand jobs here from Houston. So there may yet be some good news as far as "Tulsa" is concerned.