IBM may cut 4,000 U.S. jobs as part of work shift to India
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 26 March 2009, 21:06 IST   |    7 Comments
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IBM may cut 4,000 U.S. jobs as part of work shift to India
New York: IBM is reportedly planning to lay off 4,000 U.S. workers at IBM's Global Business Services unit - the companies largest single workforce reduction thus far this year, according to the Alliance@IBM employee union. The union's National Coordinator Lee Conrad said, "IBM employees told me that the expected job cuts may take place as early as tomorrow, as per reported by Computerworld. That day already has been dubbed 'Black Thursday' in one anonymous post on a message board on Alliance@IBM's Web site." The imminent lay-off was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources at IBM in a story saying that the company plans to eliminate 'a large number' of U.S. jobs at the Global Business Services division and shift more of its work to facilities in India. An IBM spokesman denied to comment on the issue. Conrad said he can't be certain about the size of the latest cutback until IBM actually begins lay-off. But he said that Alliance@IBM has heard that 'big numbers' will be involved and that what may be driving the cuts is 'the offshoring of U.S. jobs to India' and the Asia-Pacific region. According to the Reuters news service and other media outlets, the reductions may be even larger than first indicated, with as many as 5,000 jobs perhaps being eliminated. IBM's U.S. workforce has been shrinking, while its overseas head count has been on the increase. The number of IBM workers in the U.S. dropped from 121,000 to 115,000 during the course of 2008. However, the company's overall employee count grew by 13,000 people last year. And already this year, IBM has cut more than 4,600 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, according to earlier counts by Alliance@IBM. The union - a Communications Workers of America local that doesn't have enough members to gain official recognition as a bargaining unit - has been the source of most of the information about the recent job cuts made by IBM.

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