IBM Cuts 800 Jobs in Hudson Valley

 

About 700 IBM employees in East Fishkill and 100 in Poughkeepsie lost their jobs this week, according to former employees and more layoffs are still expected. Sources said 85 percent of those let go Tuesday are 40 or older.

Just one week ago, IBM announced breathtaking profits and earnings. Fourth-quarter income from continuing operations was $4.4 billion compared with $4.0 billion one year earlier, an increase of 12 percent. This included: record revenue of $103.6 billion; record pre-tax profit of $16.7 billion; record earnings per share of $8.93;record free cash flow of $14.3 billion, up $1.9 billion, excluding Global Financing receivables.

“A strong fourth quarter capped an outstanding year,” said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In 2008 IBM performed well in an extremely difficult economic environment.”

Another IBM worker said last week that while IBM shows stunning profits, "none of that money trickles down to the employees."

The feeling among many employees is that IBM is not the company it once was when it comes to caring for their employees.

A worker said that on Tuesday at approximately 9 a.m., a supervisor announced "the layoff has begun." "She had a list, and she said she stopped counting at 350 people, because it's just too much," that employee said. "She said there's plenty more."

This comes after weeks of rumours and denials by big bosses at IBM. When asked recently if there were any layoffs coming, IBM spokesmen repeatedly said that the company will not comment on rumors or speculation. That's fine, but this was neither - it was fact.
Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, an IBM employee group trying to organize a union for IBM employees,said that the job cuts came only days before Feb. 1, 2009.

Coincidentally, that is when a new state law, the New York WARN Act, goes into effect requiring employers to notify workers 90 days in advance of losing their jobs. "They're sidestepping that."

Longtime employees losing jobs, short term employees not, crying, confusion, secrecy, denial,strategically avoiding the law.

IBM gave their employees many benefits over the years. But there was one benefit that they would not agree to give them, the forbidden fruit......and in the end, it was what they needed most.

A contract.

A contract would have addressed layoffs, how they were announced and how they would be administered.

With this type of treatment to look forward to, you may see IBM employees begin to realize that their only way to gain respect and a voice is to form a union.

Labor History: The Song Remains The Same

This particular event occurred 41 years ago. It is really amazing that even with all of the time that has passed - the struggle of workers to form unions, to be recognized, to make a fair wage and to be treated with dignity - continues on today.

No one GIVES the working man and woman anything, they must gain and earn every right by speaking out and up for those rights that they desire. NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

All of the unpleasant parts, for people on both sides, could have been then and can be now - avoided - if both sides would respect the other and work together.

It is a suprise to some people that when Martin Luther King was shot, he was in town to support the sanitation workers in Memphis.

The Employee Free Choice Act will make situations like this one and thousands of others cease to exist. Those Sanatation workers should have had their union long before they got it. Denying American workers the right to organize was and still is just wrong.

Pass the Employee Free Choice Act

Live Better: Join The Union

With times as tough as they are now, there is no better time to look into joining a union. No matter what your profession.

Working with STRUCTURE and A CONTRACT is always the right choice.

Give yourself and your family the protection you need - get it all in writing - and do that along with ALL OF YOUR FELLOW WORKERS.

Don't listen to people who talk against the concept of Americans banding together - especially at their workplace. They ALWAYS have ulterior motives that are not in your best interest.

The Peoples President Speaks About The Employee Free Choice Act

Here is the first President in a long time that hasn't had an ax to grind with his own middle class people. He is the type of President who will ENHANCE the way the working people are treated in this country.

He thinks that workers are better off when they organize into a union. And like he says himself, he is a President that "isn't afraid to say the word union."

The last President wasn't afraid to say the word union either- it's just the fact that whenever he did say something - IT WAS AGAINST UNIONS AND THE PEOPLE IN THEM.

Some Sean Hannity-esque detractors question the great excitement and enthusiasm that is overtly evident out in the general public. It puzzles them. They even mock it.

The reasons for all of the excitement are varied but they have one very important and common component: they each relate to his genuine concern with something that the American people need addressed. That is the change if you haven't caught on yet - he cares about us, the Americans.

Hey You.........

President Obama Inaugural Speech

Finally, a President for the people.

The Labor Movement and The Civil Rights Movement

A labor law professor that I once had pointed out the vast similarities of the labor movement and the civil rights movement. Both exist for the good of the people. Both go through struggle to advance. Both meet with resistance. Both must remain non-violent. Both are ridiculed. Both work against great odds. Both gain strength by unifying and organizing. Both are treated unfairly. Both must do their work in public, and involve the public. Both have enemies who, no matter what, will always be enemies. But both also have the power of the people. And both have the ability to facilitate change.

Then he showed us this speech.

How many people do you know that could do what Martin Luther King did?

You have the utmost respect for him. He educated and organized the masses of people into one, speaking with one voice.

And he changed the world.

In unity, there is strength.