About 1000 people lost their jobs at IBM in Poughkeepsie and Fishkill last week, layoffs that occurred less than a week after Big Blue announced surprisingly robust profits in 2008. And more layoffs nationally and locally are expected in coming months, although the company refuses to discuss current and future layoffs, which it refers to as “resource actions.”
“We don”™t believe it”™s ethical or fair,” said Lee Conrad, administrator of the Web site Alliance@IBM, an IBM employee organization affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. “Last week, IBM announced some pretty good financial results and the next day they started throwing employees out the door. We are hearing from employees across the country. They are shocked that these cuts happened so quickly after such positive results.”
Multiple sources told of weeping workers being walked out the door of IBM plants in Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. The company is the largest private employer in Dutchess County with some 11,500 employees at locations in Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. The company also has employees in Armonk and Endicott with a total of about 20,000 workers throughout the Hudson Valley, according to 2007 figures.Â
There also were IBM layoffs in Tucson, Ariz.; San Jose, Calif.; Rochester, Minn.; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; Austin, Texas; and Burlington, Vt.
IBM said it doesn”™t have to reveal the number of jobs it is cutting because the Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to disclose only “material” events and IBM considers its job cuts to be a regular part of the company”™s business model. The company noted that it eliminates thousands of jobs every year but usually adds some back in other places.
In response to inquiries, IBM, spokesman Doug Shelton issued this statement: “IBM continuously evaluates its mix of skills and resources, throughout the year, and makes changes as needed. The nature of our business is such that we must constantly assess employee skills and resources and at any point in time, give IBM the flexibility to match the current and future needs of our clients. Managing resources in this way keeps us competitive, while adapting to the evolving needs of our clients. IBM notified some employees today on the need to manage resources and skills. IBM’s practice is to facilitate internal job search so that affected employees have easy access to any other available positions beyond their immediate work group or unit. We are not commenting on numbers, locations or business units and can’t speculate on what the future might hold.”
 The company reported $12.3 billion in profit last year, 18 percent better than in 2007. Revenue was $103.6 billion for 2008, a 5 percent increase. The computer giant declared a dividend of 50 cents per share for the quarter, sending roughly $650 million to IBM shareholders. On Jan. 20, IBM forecast at least $9.20 per share in profit in 2009. IBM shares are up more than 10 percent since then.
Conrad, of Alliance @IBM, said that since those earnings were announced Jan. 20, the company has fired at least 4,000 workers. He said the company uses three phrases in firing employees. The “resource action” denotes a large layoff and is the term used in the current spate of firings, Conrad said. He identified “management initiated separations” as individual firings based on performance review.
“They are not fair reviews at all,” said Conrad, a former IBMer, of the individual assessments. “It”™s pretty much universally hated inside the company, because it”™s not used as an evaluation, it”™s used as a club to get rid of people.”
He said IBM employees are also being forced to train their offshore replacements and then are losing their jobs to those they trained overseas.
In 2007, the last full year for which detailed employment numbers are available, 121,000 of IBM”™s 387,000 workers were in the United States, down slightly from the year before. The company”™s staffing in India has jumped from just 9,000 workers in 2003 to 74,000 workers in 2007.
“IBM is pretty much skirting the rules of the SEC and claiming they don”™t have to report job losses at all,” said Conrad. “It”™s new and it”™s not right and we”™re going to challenge it. We”™re going to be contacting a lot of people statewide and nationally on this”
“One thing that should concern New Yorkers is that IBM has received tens of millions of dollars in public money over the last couple of years,” Conrad said. “But the company is arrogant enough to not say how many jobs are being cut in New York state.”
