Reports of deep job cuts at International Business Machines come at a potentially delicate time for the company — just as it is hoping to secure money from the federal stimulus package. The company will lay off as many as 5,000 U.S. workers in its Global Business Services unit, transferring some of the work they performed to India, according to media reports.
IBM spokesman Mike Fay declined to confirm or to comment on any job-cut plans, which were reported on Mar. 25 by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. The cuts will affect mainly information technology and consulting work in such areas as customer relations management and supply chain management, says Lee Conrad, national coordinator of Alliance@IBM, a group that is seeking union representation at IBM and is allied with the Communications Workers of America Local 1701.
Any job transfers IBM may make to India would occur at a sensitive time, as the recession deepens and as the U.S. unemployment rate climbs. Moreover, the company would be cutting high-skill positions domestically as it and others jockey for new business from the $787 billion stimulus package Congress enacted in February — primarily to help create U.S. jobs.
Workers Ignited
The news — even without IBM saying anything — provoked criticism from worker groups. “It’s all about greed,” Conrad said Wednesday. “They’re moving work offshore to pay lower wages and lower taxes. IBM shouldn’t have their hands on stimulus money if they’re offshoring work.” Alliance@IBM has been trying to organize IBM employees since 1999. It has 350 dues-paying members at IBM and 5,500 supporters, workers who have registered on the group’s Web site but do not pay the $10 monthly dues.
Big Blue’s efforts to trim costs by sending work overseas are not new. For several years the company has been working to improve its efficiency…