As many as 120 Tulsa jobs at Dollar Thrifty will be eliminated or move to Florida as part of a consolidation effort by their new parent Hertz.
Rich Broome, a spokesman for Hertz, said most of the affected jobs are executive-level, and will move or end at the end of 2014 or the start of 2015 when the company finishes building a new 300,000 square-foot headquarters in Estero, Florida.
The company employed 780 people in Tulsa as of November. Broome said the company will remain in Tulsa, though he didn’t give a specific number of employees that will stay.
“We remain committed to having a presence in Tulsa,” Broome said.
A press release issued by Hertz Tuesday noted Oklahoma will be the primary home for the company’s IT, financial and customer service operations, and should grow over time.
The specific number of jobs that will be eliminated versus being moved to Florida has not been released, Broome said. The job cuts are due to redundancies created by Hertz’ $2.3 billion buyout of its former rival last November.
Broome said the headquarters move was the result of trying to find the best possible location for officials from both companies.
“We wanted to find one place we could blend all our employees that would be acceptable to everyone,” he said.
“The people in Oklahoma weren’t too interested in New Jersey, and for our New Jersey folks, Oklahoma wasn’t something they’d be interested in. We had to thread the needle and find something that would be good for both sets of employees.”
Additionally, the Fort Meyers News-Press reported Monday Hertz will receive approximately $19 million in economic stimulus money from Lee County, the state of Florida and the Florida Power and Light company. Hertz made the decision with the Lee County Economic Development Office and Enterprise Florida, a public/private organization that helps facilitate corporate investment in that state.
All told, up to 700 jobs will shift to Estero over a two-year period, Hertz announced in a press release. Over 2,000 Hertz and Dollar Thrifty workers will stay in New Jersey.
Mark P. Frissora, chairman and CEO of Hertz, said in a press release the move was due to Florida’s diverse community appeal, work force availability, and accessibility, as well as its strong connections to tourism.
“Florida is the center of the U.S. travel and tourism industry - this move enables us to be closer to leisure and business customers, as well as many travel and association partners,” he said.
In an interview with the News-Press, Frissora said the decision to move came after a nine-month selection process.
“It was kind of an easy decision,” he said to the News-Press. “Everything pointed to Lee County.”
Transportation
As automakers race to make cheaper electric cars with greater battery range, General Motors is working on one that can go 200 miles per charge at a cost of about $30,000, a top company executive said Monday.
BNSF Railway Co. announced Monday it is spending $125 million to expand and improve its system in Oklahoma. Projects will include a new bypass connection at the Cherokee rail yard in west Tulsa and extending a siding area on the carrier's tracks near Mannford.
