IBM Layoffs Top 1,000 In U.S. And Canada, Union Organizing Group Reports

-- IBM Corp. has laid off roughly 1,100 workers in North America this week, a union organizing group said Tuesday.

Lee Conrad, national coordinator at Alliance(at)IBM, said that employees are reporting that the cuts have been made across business segments in the U.S. and some parts of Canada.

Alliance(at)IBM, which is affiliated with the Communication Workers of America, is not a recognized union at IBM, but has been trying to organize employees.

IBM did not immediately respond to phone calls for comment. The company, based in Armonk, N.Y., is the world's largest computer-services provider. It employed 433,362 worldwide as of Dec. 31, according to regulatory filings.

IBM reported in January that its fourth-quarter earnings rose to beat expectations on stronger revenue and improved margins. For all of 2011, IBM earned $15.86 billion, or $13.06 per share, up 7 percent from 2010.

It also raised its outlook for 2012.

Shares of IBM rose 45 cents to close at $197.98 Tuesday.

Comments

[iamwired]

10:22 AM on 03/01/2012

I have done many dealings with IBM. In particular their software department. They have or had many different levels of bureaucracy for every level in the software life cycle. So if you wanted the install team, they had the techs, the supervisors, the managers, the directors, the salespersons... etc. if you wanted the support team for that product, the chain was the same, etc. It went on and on. That forced them to sell those products for outrageous prices. I am not surprised one bit that with this economy they have had to scale back.

[JRambo]

05:09 PM on 03/02/2012

They aren't scaling back the bureaucracy but rather the engineers building and testing the products. The strategy appears to be to move the development to lower wage countries. If you think it was bad before, just wait... Then again, if it is on par with HP and CISCO service, it won't matter as their customers won't have any better place to go. Perhaps other large companies should take this as a hint where to invest? Then again, this is business and corporations exist to make share holders money, not give people jobs. For now, it is working for IBM. Eventually, the worker will realize that there are no longer company careers, but personal careers. Everyone for themselves. Anyone at any corporation should be learning as much as they can, building the current skills, and balancing between what they give the company and what they gain for themselves. It is a dog eat dog world, and corporations are considered people legally.

[iamwired]

09:26 AM on 03/05/2012

Good advice, and I have always approached my career that way. I have to always gain useful knowledge while applying what I know to the company. If I grow stale in learning it affects me later since I didn't add more value to myself. IBM used to be known as the place to go for great perks and a retirement. Not any more.

[JohnJosephKnight]

11:40 PM on 02/29/2012

IBM Layoffs Top 1,000 In U.S. And Canada, Union Organizing Group Reports
Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 09:02:04 in Technology
“IBM 1,000 , Hey ... Bank of America 30,000, Pepsi 8,700, P&G 5,700, Xerox won't say how many. Novartis 1,900, Kraft 1,600. Tellabs 530. HP 275 ...
Here's a good one ... AT&T, everyone is focused on the 90 in Atlanta ... there are "surplus" notices going out to employees all over the country. And the list goes on ...
Did these companies ... not get the e-mail ... they were asked to help out with the mass unemployment problem. I think this says something ... you can't ask corporations to do anything. As long as these companies want to enjoy constitutional protection as "people" I think they should be showing a lot more social responsibility and respect to those other people.
Of course ... how much longer do we have to wait for someone to get that terrible Supreme Court decision reversed. This one wasn't rocket science ...”

[WillowInTheWind]

09:42 PM on 02/29/2012

There are no unions at IBM.

[JRambo]

05:11 PM on 03/02/2012

Not in the US anyway. Unions wouldn't stop this, they would simple speed along the reduction in US work force and increase in developing country workforce. Unions only work if labor has a leg up, i.e., are really needed.

[BabyBummers Cartoons]

04:13 PM on 02/29/2012

Helping the global community and economy, at the peril of our own. Shameful. Would like to know how the candidates who sound the , "Jobs, jobs, jobs" mantra - plan on dealing with this off-shoring epidemic?

[consultingpbh]

08:58 PM on 02/29/2012

The problem is the profits are being made by international departments "off-shore." The US entities are not showing results and unlike "civilian government work," if you are not carrying your fare share of the load and then some, the "private sector" lets you go... Ranger Creed...
"I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be. One-hundred-percent and then some." For the full Ranger Creed...The Moral Compass of my risk management firm, adopted in '75 (100+ employees from the US military based on MOS ASIs SQIs) Mission Statement; To identify ethical nations and corporations for ethical investors; see http://www.ranger.org/Default.aspx?pageId=579982
My firm used military Discharge and MOS# and ASIs and SQIs as resumes...all ASIs and SQIs are "earned" there is not a curve grading system or an almost is "good enough" an MOS11B0000OO was not what the firm was looking for...
“Sua Sponte”
75th Regiment
Company O
3rd Brigade
82nd Airborne (’66 -’73)

[GWBear]

02:54 PM on 02/29/2012

Never have I heard of a company that so regularly makes such impressive profit along with huge growth... all the while not giving raises to the vast majority of the employees... year after year after year. You can be a very good employee and still go 10 years or more without a raise!!

[jlfenton]

02:49 PM on 02/29/2012

I guess they must have finished their new facilities in China..No liabilities for suicides there. We did not outlaw slavery---we outsourced it.

[GWBear]

02:48 PM on 02/29/2012

A lot of folks resonding in the US or the West are surprised at the negative responses of IBM employees (past or present) to this article. Enough people in the US either work or used to work for IBM - they are quite easy to find. Don't take our word... Find others and talk to them.. you will get an earful really quickly. Most will tell you: it's not a fun, fair, or decent place to work...

[keinangst]

02:44 PM on 02/29/2012

IBM is in the making by negotiating contracts with many retail stores and manufacturers to initiate RFID chips in BILLIONS of non- parishable products. One of their largest investers is Walmart, 80% of its inventory is manufactured in China. Guess were the chips will me made? Not the USA!

[keinangst]

02:46 PM on 02/29/2012

*investors. :)

[GWBear]

02:35 PM on 02/29/2012

Hey338Too, you are absolutely correct on all points. IBM makes their money by a rigorous process of off-shoring work, pushing people to work long and slave-like hours, and never giving raises... year after year after year, regardless of personal contribution and huge corporate growth and profit.

IBM swears they "pay for performance.". Nothing could be more untrue!! When the vast majority of the org gets no raises year after year, the management focus is to look for ANY possible criticism to justify why, yet again, you do not deserve a raise. Everyone knows this: people work with an extremely toxic, even immoral relationship with management, since the Org has to demonstrate that virtually everyone did not perform.... Morale is horrific, and health/stress related issues are common....

Welcome to the machine!

[Andrew Cole]

02:35 PM on 02/29/2012

I hope those laid off workers do the right thing and go lay in a ditch somewhere waiting to die. After all, it's nobodies fault but their own, right GOP? It's all about personal responsibility and "work'n hard"? We have to keep blaming the victims. They worked like they wanted it. If they can't get another job, and most of them won't, it's their fault right? Government assistance? Ha! This is "Real America" where people who fall on hard times should just die. Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Republicans have no problem spending plenty of money on that, unless it goes to the salaries of the prison guards.

[/sarcasm]

Obama 2012

[JRambo]

05:17 PM on 03/02/2012

I disagree on one point. Most of the people let go from IBM will find jobs quickly. IBM has a history of only hiring top notch people and over the years, only the best remain. I really is a great time for IBM competitors and IT shops to pick up some top talent. The IT industry is strong. But workers may have to re-skill a bit and move to smaller companies. To show my point, just query for software engineer on monster.com. IBM has been open about their strategy, they call it rebalancing. Anyone with any sense knows that means offshore. It is a crappy thing, yes. But it is the world we live in, the system. Corporations are here for one purpose, to make money. Hence, why the GOP premise of job creators is misguided. Either they don't get it, or get it and are simply trying to manipulate people. Either way, they are the people are poor ideas and flip floppers.

[Kenz300]

02:30 PM on 02/29/2012

American companies have no loyalty to American workers.........

It is time for American companies to hire Americans and provide jobs, products and services in this country.

As consumers we all need to ask our stores to buy more American made products and services.

If Walmart, Home Depot and every other chain in America made an effort to add a few more American made products to their shelves this could made a difference to the unemployment rate and help their fellow Americans.

Email, tweet and text your favorite store and ask them to buy American.

[JRambo]

05:22 PM on 03/02/2012

I agree. But to play devils advocate, why should they? What is the real purpose of a company? Economically, it is to make as much money as possible. Sending tweets and what not won't do much good unless there is a massive uprising that will impact the bottom line. I don't see that happening. This is my over all problem with declaring corporations as people and money as speech. Buying American and preferably local is great. However, you pay more. So, if people think like companies, and many do, they will do with the less expensive product that does essentially the same thing, or in some cases is the exact same thing. It is all about costs. Quality is good enough. This is a dilemma that is not easily solved and certainly won't be solved by people repeating talking points or yelling at each other.

[Frank Vandelden]

02:02 PM on 02/29/2012

Expect more layoffs when a GOP becomes President of America.

[onetermer]

01:52 PM on 02/29/2012

Our Commander-of-Chief (his words) will blame Bush.

[JRambo]

05:28 PM on 03/02/2012

Hopefully not, this started long before Bush. This really started with Reagan, but he is not totally to blame. The real culprit is globalization and technology. It is ironic, isn't it? The people that developed the technology that created the infrastructure are now the old workers getting canned because the technology broke down the international borders. Progress, I guess. Until Americans can show that they provide more bang for the buck, which could be through innovation or quality for example that justifies our labor rate, we will continue to lose our jobs to lesser wage countries. The manufacturing sector went through this a few years back. Now the large corporation IT sector is adopting the same model. I'm not sure it will work the same though, as engineering is not assembly. We'll see.

[ConnieDr]

01:41 PM on 02/29/2012

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae said Wednesday that it lost money in its fourth quarter and is asking the federal government (aka taxpayers) for $4.57 billion in aid to cover its deficit. In November, Freddie requested $6 billion in extra aid — the largest request since April 2010 — after it reported losing $6 billion in the third quarter. Now refresh my memory, didn’t the executives at these companies just get pay raises and big bonuses? http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/11/lawmakers-slam-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-ceos-over-pay-and-bonuses.html And on top of all this, the taxpayers are paying the legal fees of the executives of these companies too? http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/02/23/taxpayers-foot-legal-bills-for-fannie-and-freddie-execs/ So when do these bail outs stop? When will our government have the courage to stand up for the taxpayer and say ENOUGHS ENOUGH NO MORE BAILOUTS$$$

[papau]

01:14 PM on 02/29/2012

Workers, shareholders, and society in general have a stake in any company. There is no right to be a company - it is granted by people who are workers who grant that right via society's government being elected and passing such a law.

But today none of the above control companies. Today's companies are controlled by a hired management that installs Boards of Directors that they can control and get incentives from based on the next quarters results - making outsourcing and a lower payroll a quick bonus payout , as hired management ignores the future effect of such actions on the interests of the above 3 groups.

IBM really needs a union - for the professionals that will lose a job without one.

[JRambo]

05:33 PM on 03/02/2012

Unfortunately, I don't think a union would work in IBM. They would simply accelerate the plan to move to low wage countries. For an example, look at IBM Germany who had some of the strongest labor laws. It was recently announced that they will eliminate 8000 jobs there. The bottom line for people at IBM and any company for that matter is to look our for yourself. You have no loyalty to IBM as they have no loyalty to you. Only do work that builds your marketable skills if possible. Everyone is expendable.