Ex-workers irked at Enron's treatment

HOUSTON -- Losing his retirement investment in Enron Corp. was one thing. What really hurt, says Charles Prestwood, was realizing that his unwavering corporate loyalty ran only one direction.

"We had great trust, great loyalty," said Prestwood, 63, who retired as a plant operator in 2000. "We were trained loyalty above everything. And we were loyal."

More than a month after Enron shed more than 5,000 worldwide jobs and its stock bottomed out, retirees and laid-off workers from all walks of life are still facing up to the ways the enormous debacle has stung them.

Enron employees whose 401(k) accounts were filled with company stock watched helplessly as ceaseless bad news obliterated their value last fall, while a bookkeeping mechanism barred them from cashing out.

"I'll never trust my employer quite the same again," said Tim Dalton, a corporate security specialist who was among the 4,500 Houston workers laid off in December.

Enron chairman Kenneth Lay "was like the Pied Piper. We followed him like lemmings into the sea," said Deborah DeFforge, who might have to leave Houston for the West Coast to find work.

Congressional committees as well as the Justice and Labor departments want to know why many senior Enron executives and board members sold their stock when it was still valuable, while workers were barred from selling stock in their 401(k) funds.