Alliance@IBM Presses IBM to ‘Come Clean’ on Job Cuts

Endicott, N.Y. -- The Communications Workers of America is calling on IBM Corp. to provide employees with full information about planned job cuts in the United States and Europe that the company announced several weeks ago.

In May, IBM said it would cut between 10,000 and 13,000 jobs from American and European operations. In making that announcement, IBM did not indicate, as an internal company document spelled out, that the company will increase employment in India this year by 14,000 workers.

“IBM just announced its fifth new software center in India, which will hire an additional 1,000 programmers this year,” said Lee Conrad, national coordinator for the Alliance@IBM, CWA Local 1701. “It’s clear that IBM is systematically eliminating good paying, skilled technical jobs in the United States in order to expand its operations in India,” he said. “U.S. IT workers already have been hit hard by devastating job losses as companies offshore their work to India. IBM is among the worst offenders, pushing relentlessly to export skilled jobs overseas,” he added.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, IBM already employs 23,000 workers in India.

“The Alliance is strongly urging IBM to divulge the number of job cuts to take place in the United States, where those cuts will occur and how many employee jobs will be off-shored,” stated Conrad. “IBM employees and their communities deserve to know this information,” he said. “We request that IBM send to the Alliance@IBM all Resource Action packages with the list of employees selected for job termination when these actions take place,” stated Conrad.

The Alliance also questioned IBM’s statement that employees can seek another job within the company within 30 days. “This is a smokescreen, one that offers an illusion of hope for employees and misleads the public,” Conrad said. “The fact is that very few employees who are targeted for job cuts find new jobs. IBM is intent on pushing people out the door, not keeping them employed,” he added

To help break the secrecy of the IBM job cuts, the Alliance has a section on its web page called Job Cut Comments (http://www.allianceibm.org/jobcutstatusandcomments.htm) devoted to news, information and stories from IBM employees caught in the restructuring and job cuts.

More information will be available on the next edition of the Alliance@IBM TV show, “Think Twice,” that also appears at www.allianceibm.org