Union says IBM may cut 4,000 U.S. jobs, shift work to India
IBM may be getting set to make its largest single workforce reduction thus far this year, according to the Alliance@IBM employee union, which says it has heard that the cutbacks will affect about 4,000 U.S. workers at IBM's Global Business Services unit.
Lee Conrad, the union's national coordinator, said he has been told by IBM employees that the expected job cuts may take place as early as Thursday. That day already has been dubbed "Black Thursday" in one anonymous post on a message board on Alliance@IBM's Web site.
The expected cuts were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous sources at IBM in a story saying that the company plans to eliminate "a large number" of U.S. jobs at the Global Business Services division and shift more of its work to facilities in India. An IBM spokesman contacted by Computerworld today said that the company doesn't comment on "rumor or speculation."
Conrad said he can't be certain about the size of the latest cutback until IBM actually begins letting workers go. But like the Journal, he added, Alliance@IBM has heard that "big numbers" will be involved and that what may be driving the cuts is "the offshoring of U.S. jobs to India" and the Asia Pacific region.
IBM's U.S. workforce has been shrinking, while its overseas head count has been on the increase. The number of IBM workers in the U.S. dropped from 121,000 to 115,000 during the course of 2008; however, its overall employee count grew by 13,000 people last year. And already this year, the company has cut more than 4,600 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, according to earlier counts by Alliance@IBM.
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What happened to IBM?
IBM used to preach 'respect for the individual' to its employees, but clearly they left off the 'as long as we have a use for you'. Given the state of the US economy, this is dreadful behavior by a company that by all measures is healthy and which benefits still from its work for the US government...so our tax dollars can continue to subsidize a company that clearly does not have the US interest at heart. I can't wait to see what happens in terms of layoffs if they take over Sun, and I regret that I will actually need to do business with them if they do. This comment comes from an ex-IBMer with over 5 years at the company, but I left over a decade ago when Palmissano took over and it was clear even then that IBM's demeanor to its employees was changing. The companies that made the US great (and vice versa) are now in a race to gut it...shameful.