IBM layoff total surges past 2,500 across 22 work groups, union reports

Updated Mar. 3, 2010 at 7:59 a.m.

IBM layoff total surges past 2,500 across 22 work groups, union reports

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By RICK SMITH, Local Tech Wire editor

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Just as IBM workers feared, Big Blue began a new round of layoffs on Monday. The toll continued to increase on Tuesday.

According to Alliance@IBM, the union seeking to represent IBM (NYSE: IBM) workers, verified through various sources that IBM cut its payroll in at least 22 groups by more than 2,400 positions.

Later Tuesday, the addition of cuts in two more groups pushed the total to 2,544.

Among the new cuts: A reduction of 48 in corporate marketing and communications.

The increases Tuesday included 11 additional work groups and more than 1,000 jobs.

Biggest loser so far: Distributed servers, which is cutting 318 jobs.

“Up toi 2,400 now,” Lee Conrad, the union’s national coordinator, told Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com Tuesday evening.

Later on, more news of cuts came in.

“It could go higher,” he had warned on Monday. “We haven't received all the RA packs yet.”

Moments later, Conrad said verification of another 200 cuts came in to the union. Then the toll kept increasing.

By 8:30 p.m. Monday, 12 work groups reported 1,518, according to data provided to the union. Later, the addition of another work group pushed the day's total to 1,614.

More news filtered in Tuesday as IBMers send the union documentation and provided Web-site postings about more job losses.

(For commentary from Rick Smith about the IBM cuts, click here.)

RA refers to “resource action,” the IBM terms for layoffs. The packs is a reference to the packets of information given to each IBM worker notified that he has been in worker speak “RA’d” – or “selected” to participate in the job force reduction, as IBM describes it.

“The Alliance believes this is another example of IBM firing US workers and moving the work offshore,” Conrad added.

“Some of the employees have told us that they have been terminated while training offshore replacements. It is time our political leaders called IBM to task on this.”

Workers who were notified about being laid off can seek other positions within the company.

Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com reported on Saturday that the “resource action” – what IBM calls layoffs – would begin Monday.

An IBM spokesperson in RTP, where IBM employs some 10,000 workers, declined comment about the layoffs. IBM employs some 105,000 people in the U.S. but has cut its work force here by nearly 30,000 over the past four years.

Doug Shelton, director of corporate media relations who is based in New York, also declined to talk about the layoffs.

"As you know, we don't make public announcements or comment on details regarding this topic," Shelton said when contacted by LTW and WRAL.com. "What I can tell you is:

"We remix our skills and structure to meet the changing needs of our clients."

Where the layoffs will take place geographically is not clear.

The IBM CIO Application and Infrastructure group took the largest hit early on with 160 workers notified as of 5:30 p.m. EST.

The Software Group Information management unit plans to cut 99 people, according to an IBM “resource action” packet obtained by Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

Among those, the ages ranged from 26 to 68 and 69. Of the 99 workers affected, 19 are age 60 or over.

The breakdown by work group as reported by the union:

STG Technology Development: 24
STG Sales Support: 80
CIO Application and infrastructure: 160
Software Group WPLC: 50
Software Group Information management: 99
GBS Global Account: 98
GTS Security Systems: 41
ITD Transition, Quality & Service Mgmt: 276
ITD Application Hosting and Database: 158
ITD Service Management Delivery: 66
ITD Storage Management: 178
ITD Distributed Server Management: 318
ITD SSO (IDMM): 120
GTS North America East IMT Region Maintenance & Technical Support: 66
Sales and Distribution Headquarters: 73
ITD Complex Engagement Services: 34
Tivoli: 51
SWG Application and Integration Middleware: 119
ITD Shared Services, Security and Risk management: 216
Sales and Distribution Global Sales: 57
Human Resources Global Administration: 124
STG Global markets: 12
CIO Client Value Tranformation: 76
Corporate Marketing & Communications: 48

Total cut so far: 2,544

(Click here to read comments section about the layoffs at the Alliance Web site.)

The latest cuts follow 10,000 layoffs in 2009 as IBM reduced its U.S.-based work force.

The latest numbers, based on IBM data as posted at the Alliance@IBM Web site:

2009: 105,000
2008: 115,000
2007: 121,000
2006: 127,000
2005: 133,789

Other workers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are already being affected.

The Register in the U.K. has confirmed that negotiations are underway with workers there for voluntary buyouts with employee decisions expected by March 8.

Meanwhile, at least 200 workers in Australia have been affected, according to the Alliance site.

However, the resource action in Australia could actually affect 800 employees, according to the information technology news publication iTnews.

The Australian Services Union told iTnews that IBM is considering offshoring jobs to lower-cost centers in India and China. One source said managers were told about the cuts last Wednesday.

iTnews quoted IBM spokesperson Matt Mollett as saying that IBM “continuously transforms its business, rebalancing skills and capabilities in order to meet the changing needs of clients and our business as a whole.” He also said IBM would "continue to hire in 2010, and ... end the year with more employees than when the year began.”

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