International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), the world's largest computer-services provider, began cutting U.S. jobs Wednesday as part of a global restructuring plan announced in April, according to several media reports.
The reduction targets employees with a range of seniority from rank-and-file staff to executives, a source told Bloomberg, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Some U.S. workers began to receive notifications of the cuts Tuesday night, according to Lee Conrad, a coordinator for Alliance@IBM, an employee group.
The restructuring will cost $1 billion worldwide, including severance expenses. IBM has declined to release any details about the layoffs.
"Change is constant in the technology industry and transformation is an essential feature of our business model," IBM said in a statement.
"Consequently, some level of workforce remix is a constant requirement for our business. Given the competitive nature of our industry, we do not publicly discuss the details of staffing plans."
The company is probably cutting 6,000 to 8,000 jobs globally, based on the $1 billion cost figure, said Laurence Balter, an analyst at Oracle Investment Research in Fox Island, Washington. That would represent less than 2 percent of IBM's total workforce of 434,246 as of Dec. 31.
In Rochester, IBM is the second-largest private employer after the Mayo Clinic. As of 2009, the company's Rochester plant had roughly 4,200 employees, although that number is believed to be significantly less because there have been layoffs since then. The 56-year-old facility has long been a major design center for the company.
IBM announced in March that the company planned to move most of the Rochester plant's production work to Mexico and New York next year. The action reportedly cost about 200 jobs locally
