Report: Layoffs under way at Rochester IBM (updated)
(THE MED CITY BEAT) - Sources from within IBM tell the Post-Bulletin that layoffs are under way at its Rochester location.
IBM announced last week that it would be laying off "several thousand people" as part of a restructuring plan. But the paper notes it will be hard to know where the cuts are made because of a 7-year-old company policy not to disclose numbers.
If the outcome is anywhere near as bad as in eastern Iowa, local IBM employees are in for a rough week. The AP reports 202 employees, or about a quarter of the workforce, will lose their jobs at the Dubuque facility.
The only number to come out out of Rochester this week was 975, which was posted on a website forum for the pro-union group Alliance@IBM. The comment, however, has since been deleted because it "seemed way to high," according to the group's coordinator.
IBM is reducing its workforce as it moves into newer markets - http://t.co/urOw9EVCd3 $IBM pic.twitter.com/SzhG8BVfn4
— Bidness Etc (@Bidnessetc) January 29, 2015IBM has approximately 430,000 employees worldwide, including about 2,500 in Rochester (2013). The tech giant's workforce in Rochester peaked at 8,100 employees in 1991, according to an archive from the Star Tribune.
A recent report on the website of Forbes magazine said IBM would lay off 26 percent of its workforce (more than 100,000 jobs) by Wednesday. The company responded by stating the final total would be a "mere fraction" of what the writer predicted.
The tech giant has struggled in recent years, so the layoffs aren't a big surprise. The company has even been the worst-performing stock on the Down Jones Industrial Average two years in a row.
(Cover photo: File / Patrick / Creative Commons)
