IBMers are lighting up a Facebook page with reports across the country on Wednesday about a new round of layoffs. There also are reports of “redundancies” as they are called in Europe at IBM’s U.K., Netherlands and French operations.

The heaviest hits are taking place in the Global Technical Services and Global Business Services groups, according to information from affected workers.

IBM’s campus in RTP is taking a hit, too, according to affected workers who have been in communication with longtime IBM employee Lee Conrad (now retired) who for years tried – and failed – to unionize Big Blue’s workforce.

The Register, a news website in the U.K., received confirmation from IBM that layoffs are underway.

“We announced in our first quarter earnings report that we would take a workforce rebalancing charge to shift and rebalance our skills,” IBM’s external communications director Clint Roswell said.

“IBM is aggressively transforming its business to lead in a new era of cognitive and cloud computing. To this end, IBM currently has more than 25,000 open positions, many in these key skills areas. If we meet our hiring targets, we expect our employee numbers to be roughly the same at year-end as they were in 2015.”

However, that number of open positions has been disputed with IBMers saying a review of internal IBM job postings finds a far smaller total.

The layoffs are the latest in the high-tech sector that have hit the Triangle. Cisco recently announced 5,500 job cuts, for example.

Afraid to disclose details

While numerous posts have been made to a site Conrad set up earlier this year to monitor IBM, called “Watching IBM,” others have told Conrad directly about being laid off.

The information is “so specific,” Conrad told WRAL TechWire, that he could not disclose any further information. If IBMers are caught talking about their job losses, they can lose severance benefits.

It’s the third cut in jobs so far this year in what IBM calls “resource actions,” or “RAs.” Big Blue has reported a decline in revenue for 17 consecutive quarters and has cut an unknown number of jobs in the process. However, IBM also is hiring in some skill areas as it transitions away from a traditional focus on hardware and related services.

To add insult to billfold pain, the IBMers have been told their last day at work will be in November, which means they miss out on IBM’s 401K contribution this year. IBM changed its 401K plan last year, not only making contributions once a year rather than quarterly but also stipulating that employees must be on the payroll as of Dec. 15 to get the payment.

IBM also changed its lump-sum severance benefit to one month of pay from six months, based on years of employment.

The company has not commented about the newest layoffs.

Workers lash out

Some of the Facebook posters lashed out at Chair/CEO Virginia Rometty, who has been quite clear about steering IBM in a new direction with emphasis on the cloud, artificial intelligence (Watson), and analytics as well as software rather than hardware.

Wrote one GTS worker, whose last day is Nov. 29:

“Manager seemed stressed reading the official script on the phone.
“Asked how many were let go in this RA and he wouldn’t comment on the issue….
“Work being off shored to China. No surprises, I’m a long time follower of this group.
“I realize it is not based on the quality of my work, just another company drowning in management mistakes.”

“Life goes on,” added another.

“Well got the call today, 22 years of service and I’ve been RA’d, 90 days with a severance of 1 month. Bitter sweet feelings since I’ve been VERY unhappy with the way things have been going the last few years. I’m in GTS (work from home in Broomfield/Boulder Co.) as a Transition Project Manager.”

“Still processing the information but there is an RA in progress and ‘I am affected'”, wrote a third.

“I’m in GTS (work from home Boulder) and do mainframe engagement solutioning but it sounds like it will be larger than GTS. Word is the standard cheepskate severence.”

Among workers hit by layoffs are some that telecommute or work remotely.

“Was told that the reason is that my position is being eliminated due to co-location strategy to limit # of locations …” an IBMer said. “Nearly 20 years service and a whole 1 month pay ????”

As for overseas, one worker pointed out: “Tomorrow 344 dutch colleagues will be RA’d”

IBM (NYSE: IBM) operates one of its largest campuses in RTP and is believed to employ several thousand people across the state. The company no longer says where its workers are located.