The cost-cutting apparently isn't over at IBM. Despite reporting solid earnings growth last month for its second quarter, the company is reportedly laying off hundreds of employees in its Global Business Services unit.
The cuts, which IBM wouldn't confirm, follow several waves of employee layoffs in January and March -- numbering in the thousands -- within IBM's software and technology services operations.
Published reports, including in the Times Herald-Record, which covers New York state's Hudson Valley region, say IBM is laying off hundreds of workers within IBM Global Business Services, a unit of IBM Global Services that provides professional and business consulting services. The Times Herald-Record report said many of the layoffs were occurring at IBM's Sterling Forest facility in New York.
Most reports about the latest layoffs were based on postings on the Web site of Alliance@IBM, a Web site operated by the Communications Workers of America Union that has long tried to organize IBM employees, and comments from Lee Conrad, the Alliance's national coordinator.
Alliance@IBM has been critical of IBM's moves to cut its employee headcount in the U.S. and rely more on offshore workers, including developers in India.
Last month IBM reported net income of $3.1 billion in its second quarter ended June 30, up 12 percent from $2.8 billion in the same period last year. The increased earnings came despite a 13 percent decrease in revenue, to $23.3 billion, during the quarter. IBM credited effective cost-control efforts for the improved profitability.
Global Business Services generated $4.3 billion in revenue in the second quarter, down 15 percent from the same period one year ago.
