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IBM allegedly cutting a third of its US workforce in mass layoffs
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Mar 3, 2016, 03:34 PM
 
IBM has allegedly started to cut down its workforce in the United States, in what is believed to be "massive" job cuts across many departments. Initially announced in January as layoffs affecting one department, the number of people facing the axe has increased significantly, with reports claiming the total number of people who will be laid off by the major IT provider could make up a third of the entire US workforce, and recent changes to IBM's severance policy are set to make the situation worse for those departing.

The International Business Times reports the company's Global Technology Services were originally the sole department set to endure job losses, but the announcement was postponed to include many other departments, including the AA CMS Cloud Division, AMS Strategic Technical Services, and Global Service Parts Operations. According to one worker speaking to IEEE Spectrum, they were told by a manager reading off a script, with IBM framing the situation as making a "rebalanced" US workforce.

Others in a Facebook group called WatchingIBM note the cull includes employees with long service records spanning decades. Some noted that the "writing on the wall" had been there for years, along with discontent about H1B visa workers being allowed to continue working for the company while others were forced out, and issues with the severance package changes.

Severance pay for most workers is being reduced down heavily from what they are expected to receive, with affected employees said to be getting only one month of severance, 90 days paid working notice, and $2,500 for retraining. By the end of 2015, IBM had approximately 378,000 employees around the world, though the exact figure for the United States was unknown, with it also having 25,000 open positions. The total number of affected employees has not been disclosed.

An IBM spokesperson claimed to the reports that the alleged layoffs were untrue, and that the company is "transforming its business to lead in a new era of cognitive and cloud computing."
     
just a poster
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Mar 3, 2016, 05:08 PM
 
"Good-paying STEM jobs"
     
chimaera
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Mar 3, 2016, 07:00 PM
 
Back in the WinTel days, when Apple was struggling for survival, I would have cheered this. Now I just feel bad for those people.

And I really hope they aren't laying citizens off in favor of H1B visa workers. That's supposed to be illegal - H1Bs are only for cases where existing workers cannot be found. In this case, you can find them (with their stuff in boxes) right outside the back door.
     
Inkling
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Mar 3, 2016, 09:38 PM
 
Wonder why Bernie and Trump are doing so well in the primaries? This is one reason. A lot of people are so afraid and angry as a result of our stagnant economy and a host of other ills. And much of their anger focuses on politicians in both parties who promise but don't deliver, with off-shoring and H1B visa job destruction among their failures. So what are these people doing? Falling for two candidates who're even less likely to deliver on their promises. // \\ I can remember elections back to 1956, and I've never seen one this bizarre. Sometimes one party will have angry voters, sometimes the other. But I can't recall another time when both parties were facing so many angry people. People in 2008 voted for "hope and change" and they've gotten change for the worse.
Author of Untangling Tolkien and Chesterton on War and Peace
     
Charles Martin
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Mar 3, 2016, 10:19 PM
 
People have pretty short memories if they think today -- even with the myriad problems facing the US -- is any worse than the second half of 2008, before President Obama took office.
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Steve Wilkinson
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Mar 4, 2016, 12:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by Charles Martin View Post
People have pretty short memories if they think today -- even with the myriad problems facing the US -- is any worse than the second half of 2008, before President Obama took office.
I must have an extremely short memory then.
------
Steve Wilkinson
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