IBM Spokesperson Confirms Layoffs

Word on the grapevine last week was IBM was about to become the latest company to layoff staff in light of the weakening economy. Comments from the IBM Employees Union Website Alliance@IBM claimed that the company was in the midst of laying off a substantial amount of people. The Alliance site Friday displayed the message, “IBM JOB CUTS ARE HAPPENING in SWG and Sales and Distribution in the US and Canada 1/21/2009!”

The site details that IBM employees nationwide are anxiously waiting for the company to publicly announce the number of job cuts likely to take place in the United States. While the company hasn’t exactly publicly announced anything, one of its Canadian spokespeople has confirmed the layoffs.

According to PCWorld, IBM Canada spokesman Mike Boden confirmed to ITBusiness.ca that a round of layoffs is underway at IBM. However, unlike what was reported on the the Alliance@IBM site, the layoffs are global. Unfortunately, Boden also told ITBusiness that no specific numbers regarding the cuts are being released so we still don’t know how many people are going to be let go.

"We're not releasing numbers by site," said Boden. "There's no single area being targeted. As part of ongoing business operations at IBM we're trying to manage the resources and skills we have so we're ready and able to meet current and future client needs," he explained.

However all is not lost, Boden said that some of those affected by the cutbacks will be offered jobs in other departments within IBM. Check out the full story on PCWorld.