MCI Layoffs In Tulsa? (400 jobs)

[UpInArms]

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=63236

Hundreds more layoffs could be in store this week for MCI employees in Tulsa. MCI, formerly known as Worldcom, employs about 1,800 people in Tulsa.

Anonymous workers at the Tulsa facility tell the News on 6 that about 400 layoffs are expected on Friday. So far, the company has not confirmed that.

If true, it's also not clear how it fits in with the company's pledge to "create" 1,600 jobs in Tulsa over the next 10 years. MCI made that deal with the state to avoid being charged with fraud from the Worldcom scandal.

...very short newsblurb...

[mhr]

1. Oh, The Horror, The Horror - Just When I Thought The New Rose Colored

glasses were working so well.

Maybe a shade of pink will protect me better from all the economic truth others refuse to see.

[mkultra]

2. i work at this location

and this really pisses me off.

[worldcomflunky]

4. I am in the same boat Mkultra

We have been going through these here in Tulsa off and on for 3 1/2 years now. 400 plus people is a pretty big haircut. I didn't expect that many in Tulsa. It is going to be an UGLY Friday and I am not looking forward to it. When they are cutting 400 out of 1,800 then a lot of people that make it will know a lot of people that didn't.

To add insult to injury, they also had in the news tonight that Williams Energy is shedding almost 500 jobs because they are "outsourcing" jobs to IBM. I caught the tail end of that story so I have no clue what the hell that was all about.

[UpInArms]

6. here's the Williams story: Williams outsourcing 460 jobs to IBM

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/06/01/williams_outsourcing_460_jobs_to_ibm/

ULSA, Okla. -- Williams Cos. has agreed to ship about 460 accounting, finance, human resources and information technology jobs to IBM Corp. in a $320 million outsourcing agreement announced Tuesday. Williams' shares hit a 52-week high.

The 7 1/2-year deal is expected to begin July 1 when roughly 380 Williams employees in Tulsa, 70 in Houston and 10 in Salt Lake City are offered jobs at IBM -- a move Williams expects will save as much as $10 million each year.

"This is a big, and difficult, step for our company and all of us as individuals," Steve Malcolm, Williams' chairman, president and chief executive wrote in a memo to employees. "It's also a critical step in satisfying our need to quickly align our support costs with our smaller, more focused business operations."

Williams has sold more than $8 billion in assets -- including three major pipelines and two refineries -- since 2002 to improve its finances after its faltering energy trading business nearly led to bankruptcy.

...more...

and this little tidbit from another source

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=62537

No Decision Yet On The Outsourcing Of 700 Williams Jobs



A decision to send about 700 jobs from Williams Companies to IBM Corporation is on hold. A memo to employees says top Williams executives studying the outsourcing proposal discovered that more issues need to be resolved.

A Williams spokesman says the Tulsa based company could decide whether to move information technology, finance and accounting and human resources work to IBM anytime.

And most of the 700 jobs outsourced would be from Tulsa, where Williams employs more than 1,400 people.

...very short newsblurb...

[JCMach1]

3. Tulsa's economy is in the crapper and guess who they

will vote for...

:grr:

[burrowowl]

5. MCI has also

closed its office in Albuquerque

[struggle4progress]

7. kick

:kick: