Scores of IBM workers in Triangle may lose jobs in cutbacks
In the first cuts Big Blue has made recently, hundreds of workers are told they are going to be laid off if they can't find jobs within the company. The Triangle is one of the hardest hit sites. Some workers also are being let go overseas
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According to the source and information obtained by Alliance@IBM, the union seeking to represent Big Blue workers, the job cuts in RTP are primarily within the Global Business Services group.
Hundreds of workers are being let go across several divisions unless they are able to find another job within IBM over the next 30 days, said the source, who declined to be identified.
Jobs are also being cut outside of North America, but not on the same scale as within the U.S., the source said. The layoffs are the first IBM have made in recent months, the person added.
IBM employs an estimated 10,000 people in the Triangle.
Alliance@IBM also said it had received reports over the last 24 hours about cuts being made in addition to those it has been able to document.
An IBM spokesman declined to confirm or deny layoffs had occurred.
"IBM does not discuss its staffing plans publicly. However, we are constantly managing resources across a base of more than 400,000 employees as client demands evolve,” spokesman Doug Shelton said.
Resource action documents – that's IBM jargon for layoffs – provided to the union specified cuts of 193 in one business unit and 44 in another.
“We just don’t know” how many cuts were made at IBM’s campus in RTP or elsewhere,” said Alliance spokesman Lee Conrad. “What we do know is several units in IBM had job cuts yesterday.”
The known job cuts came in Application Management Services, IBM Global Account (193) and Client Value Transformation (44).
The Alliance has asked for IBMers to submit the “RA” documents in order to determine how extensive the layoffs are.
“The problem in counting the numbers cut is that IBM, instead of issuing one RA pack with the total number, issues an RA pack for each business unit within a division,” Conrad said.
“If we are only able to collect a few of the total RA packs, we are unable to see the big picture," he said. "IBM likes to keep the public in the dark on job cuts and makes the process of collecting information difficult.”
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