Add IBM to the list of jerks selling out America

[David]

IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions yet in the technology industry.

IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing high-tech industry trend known as "offshoring."

More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the "potential to move offshore," the Journal said. IBM already has hired 500 engineers in India to take on some of the work that will be moved, the Journal reported.

The division affected is IBM's Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue's huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas, Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Boulder, Colo.

IBM spokesman James Sciales said he would not comment on "internal presentations" but noted that most of IBM's work force, which now totals 315,000, has been overseas for years. Sciales also released a statement saying IBM expects hiring in the United States next year will match or exceed 2003 levels.

While companies long ago began moving manufacturing jobs and other blue-collar work to Asia, big business is now increasingly shifting skilled work there as well. According to International Data Corp., foreign workers performed about 5 percent of information technology services for American companies this year, but by 2007, that share will grow to 23 percent.

Often, the American workers being replaced are called upon to train their overseas replacements. The same will be expected of IBM employees whose jobs are being transferred, according to the Journal.


P.S. I wont be buying IBM anymore....

[DMZ-LT]

David , it's happening all across the board. My genunine Harley leather vest is made in Korea, The jacket I bought in WalMart was made in Mongolia and the frozen shrimp I bought at Winn Dixie were from China. The Ford Ranger has a Madza engine. Go figure.

[BLUEHAWK]

Cripes, a person would have thought someone like IBM could stay the course for us here...

NAFTA, GAAT, WTO, "Globalization"... sounded bad when it came out, sounding worse every day... but only for us.

[39mto39g]

Ford owns Mazda, Along with Jaguar, Volvo, Austin Martin, Range Rover, ETC. They put Ford engines in Mazdas,

Ron

[Seascamp]

I?m surprised it took Big Blue this long to make the move. Where I work code generation was moved to India over a decade ago and presently if I have a IS issue I call the help desk and try to get my point across to Gupta. And after all is said and done I have to fill out a report on the quality of service or they dog my trail ad nausium. If all the ?excellent? boxes aren?t checked it only gets more intense and time wasteful. So everything is ?excellent? and we?re all happy as clams in fresh mud, ya right.

If the national political climate goes way left we can expect a ton of corporate bailouts and I know a lot of contingency plans are in the hopper as I write and that?s too bad, but reality I suppose. The joke phrase going around to describe this planning process is called "Avoiding Californication". Sad huh.

Scamp

[SEATJERKER]

...Programers worth their salt here the the United States make approx 60 + after being in the field for a few years, moving their jobs overseas, and it results in ONLY paying around 20+ a year,...

...So IBM "(I been moved)" is just another classic example of corp. greed, My B.I.L worked for them for 20 + years, and just got the downsizing yuk,yuk, last year, and has since moved on,...

...See ya, will take an extra close look at any, and all purchases regarding "cop out companies" from now on,...

...

[Dragon Lady]

Just what New York needs ... more jobs lost. Its not enough that we lost so many people in that horrendous attack on the Twin Towers. Companies went out of business as a result of that attack, others just chose not to replace those people who were lost. They called it "cut-backs". Now we stand to lose several thousand more jobs in this state alone. Is it any wonder that places like Schenectady are on the verge of filing bankruptcy? I am so glad that the company I work for is a small enough company that it still has its roots dug deep into the Red,White,AND Blue!
DL

[39mto39g]

Look around your house, All that crapp that is not made in America is why companies are moving, You buy it. Don't buy it, Buy Made in America. DAHHHHH>

Ron