IBM lays off 1,100 workers in North America, says employee group
IBM (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
An employee advocacy group said today that International Business Machines Corp. fired about 1,100 workers in North America this week, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Alliance@IBM tracks job cuts at the Armonk, NY-based company via reports from its employee-members, the Associated Press reported.
Laid-off employees may apply for other jobs within IBM, severance documents collected by Alliance show, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
It’s IBM policy not to comment on job cuts, and Doug Shelton, a spokesman for the company, refused to provide Bloomberg Businessweek with the number of employees who had been let go, citing the “competitive nature of our business.”
A union spokesman told Computerworld magazine that the employees were being let go from many business units and locations in the US and some parts of Canada, and noted that nearly half of the employees who’d lost their jobs so far "are mobile or work from home.”
“IBM is constantly rebalancing its workforce,” Shelton said in a statement. “That means reducing in some areas and hiring in others – based on shifts in technology and client demand. This allows IBM to remain competitive and relevant in an industry that is constantly changing.”
IBM had 433,362 workers worldwide as of Dec. 31, according to regulatory filings, the AP reported.
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