News from Alliance@IBM/ The Communications Workers of America

For Immediate Release
October 16, 2003

For more information:
Lee Conrad, National Coordinator Alliance @IBM
Phone (607) 658-9285
www.allianceibm.org

Alliance@ IBM /Communications Workers of America
Questions IBM claim of Adding 10,000 jobs in 2004.

Alliance@IBM, an employee organization of technical, manufacturing and support workers at IBM Corp., released the following statement on IBM’s announcement that the company will create 10,000 new positions in 2004:

When IBM announced its 3rd quarter 2003 results, Chairman Sam Palmisano added in a written statement that IBM will “see the need for approximately 10,000 new positions in key skill areas, including high-value services, middleware technologies, Linux and open standards based hardware and software.”

This announcement raises many more questions that it answers.

The Alliance believes the announcement of these “new” jobs is merely a smokescreen to hide the fact that thousands of career IBM employees have already lost their jobs in 2003 and 2002. In fact, our sources within IBM say that up to 30,000 Global Services employees will lose their jobs by 2004 due to Offshoring.

We also are very skeptical as to where these “new” jobs will be located. Will they be here in the United States? Or will these jobs be created in one of IBM’s many offshore locations, such as India, China or Brazil. IBM has already signed deals to train 100,000 software specialists in various Chinese cities over the next 3 years.

Lee Conrad, National Coordinator of the Alliance stated “Will these actually be new positions or persons transferred from another of IBM’s acquisitions? Will IBM hire young graduates while letting skilled workers go? Our analysis of job cut numbers shows a disproportionate number of employees over 40 years old have been let go in several resource actions. IBM employees and the communities they work and live in demand answers.”

A much better solution for everyone at IBM -- management, shareholders and employees - is for IBM to recall those employees who have been laid off recently in another of IBM’s endless cycles of firing experienced, longtime employees. IBM can use some of the funds it’s designated for new jobs to help employees refresh their skills or be retrained in new areas.
The Alliance @IBM/CWA also strongly urges IBM to cease its offshoring of jobs and keep its commitment to employees and communities.