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IBM is laying off some 1,200 more workers, union says

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Some 1,200 members of IBM’s Systems and Technology Group received their termination notices Tuesday – find a new position within IBM or leave.

An unknown number of IBM workers in the Triangle were part of the “resource action” process, which is IBM’s language for layoffs.

“I made it!” one IBM worker told WRAL.com after escaping unscathed from a 15-minute meeting with a supervisor.

However, another said that he had accepted a buyout offer: Full pay for five months plus $2,500 in retraining funds.

“I thought I was lucky when I survived the cuts last week,” the Big Bluer employee said. “The package IBM offered me this morning is too good to not pass on. 5 months pay with benefits, plus credits at a local training center. Cannot beat it.”

The 1,200 number is based on estimates compiled by Alliance@IBM, the union that is seeking to represent IBM (NYSE: IBM) workers.

Last week just hours after announcing quarterly profits that exceeded Wall Street expectations and forecasting strong profits for 2009, IBM cut some 2,800 employees in two other business divisions. The total is based on Alliance@IBM information as well as a so-called resource action “notice to employees” document made available to the union and some media members/

IBM refuses to discuss specific information about layoffs. The company employs some 400,000 worldwide. Its 11,000 employees in the Triangle area represents the largest group of IBMers in one geographic region.

Much of the information about the layoffs is coming from the union and from postings at the Alliance’s Web site by IBM employees.

“People are talking to me because IBM won’t,” said Alliance@IBM National Coordinator Lee Conrad.

According to a state of New Hampshire executive, some 500 IBMers are to be cut from its 5,300-member work force in Essex Junction, N.Y.

Layoffs also were reported in Minnesota and Arizona.