According to a leaked company memo, IBM is imposing involuntary job cuts
in the Netherlands for the first time. Does the move serve as a template for
Big Blue to impose forced layoffs in regions where local labor laws have made
it difficult to impose mandatory cuts?
IBM issued a company memo this week stating it would institute involuntary
job cuts for the first time in the Netherlands, adopting a new and permanent
workforce reduction strategy in the region. The effects could be far reaching.
Lee Conrad, a former IBM employee who oversees?Watching IBM, a Facebook
page that tracks Big Blue's workforce cuts, told InformationWeek the move may
serve as a template?for Big Blue to impose? in regions where local labor laws have made
it difficult to impose mandatory cuts. IBM Netherlands, for example, previously
was only subject to voluntary job cuts, according to Conrad.
"In many of the European countries, the cuts historically have been
voluntary. This is because of the existence of works councils and unions inside
IBM. Labor laws are also more favorable to workers," said Conrad, who
previously oversaw the now defunct union organizing effort called Alliance@IBM.
He added IBM's effort to spread this practice across Europe and other
regions will likely increase.
"IBM wants to rid itself of more employees than will volunteer to
leave," Conrad said in our interview. "IBM also wants to terminate
workers in selective areas and not rely on volunteers. IBM is also shedding
business units in countries like Germany and Italy and either selling them to
other companies or moving them to low-cost countries like India or countries in
Eastern Europe."
An IBM spokesman, while not specifically addressing the job cuts in the
Netherlands, told InformationWeek, "As reported earlier this year, IBM is
transforming its business to lead in a . To this end, IBM
currently has more than 25,000 open positions, many in these key skills areas.
If IBM meets its hiring goals, we expect to end the year with around the same
number of employees [as] at (year-end) 2015."
IBM had 377,757 employees at the end of 2015, according to its with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
That is down from the 379,592 employees it had in 2014, according to its SEC
filing.
