IBM to create 1,300 jobs

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

15 Jan 2009, 1147 hrs IST, REUTERS

BOSTON: IBM, the world's largest technology services company, plans to open a new computer support center in Iowa, creating up to 1,300 new jobs and defying a trend of widespread corporate layoffs.

The Dubuque facility in a 10-story office building once occupied by now-defunct retailer Roshek's Department Store, will create jobs for high-tech workers at a time when many technology companies are cutting staff.

Workers will provide security services and remote support to IBM customers, helping to maintain computers and software systems primarily located in the United States, IBM said.

International Business Machines Corp said it plans to employ several hundred people in the facility by the end of this year, following renovations to the top eight floors of the building that it will occupy to make it more energy efficient.

By the end of next year, as many as 1,300 IBM employees will work in the building built in the 1930s, IBM said.

On Tuesday, IBM announced plans to work with Michigan State University to build a software development center in East Lansing, Michigan, that will create up to 1,500 jobs over the next five years.



Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/IBM_to_create_1300_jobs/articleshow/3982118.cms

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Now, this is what I like to hear! :thumbsup:

[trotsky]

1. This should have been happening all along.

Real estate, electricity, cost of living - all relatively cheap here in the midwest. And plenty of hard-working Americans ready for jobs.

[antigop]

2. Will it be staffed with h1-b visa holders? n/t

[nc4bo]

3. Ack! I was just starting to enjoy the tingle going up my leg too. nt

[OhioChick]

4. I didn't even think about that.

Good question.

[Rebellious Republican]

5. What makes you think they would be willing to actually pay for documented

workers. When they can staff it with undocumented workers, if a person is not documented then they do not have to abide by labor laws and pay into FICA taxes or anything else. If a person is undocumented then they do exist, right?

:shrug:

[DS1]

7. Do you not understand the difference between Visas and undocumented?

Or do you really think IBM is going to hire illegals to man phone support lines.

[Rebellious Republican]

18. Actually I was being sarcastic, but since you asked.....

Sure, why not, everyone else is doing it

Snip> But here's the rub. In 1999, under President Bill Clinton, the US government collected $3.69 million in fines from 890 companies for employing undocumented workers. In 2004, under President George Bush, the federal government collected $188,500 from 64 companies for such illegal employment practices. And in 2004, the Bush Administration levied NO fines for US companies employing undocumented workers.

In 21st-century America, it's an unspoken agreement between employer, the undocumented employee and the federal government: the employee provides acceptable ID that appears authentic, the employer asks no questions, and the US government looks the other way. Fake ID...Social Security cards, US permanent residency cards (i.e. "green cards"), US temporary employment authorization cards....are readily available for about $100 to $200 in every major American city,and plenty of smaller ones, too.

Wrote reporter Eduardo Porter in an April 5, 2005 New York Times article, "Currently available for about $150 on street corners in just about any immigrant neighborhood in California, a typical fake ID package includes a green card and a Social Security card. It provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal." < snip

http://usliberals.about.com/od/immigration/a/IllegalImmi_2.htm

I suppose you think IBM will set up phone banks with out the use of private sub contractors, who in turn hire undocumented workers. But then technically you would be right, IBM would not have hired them, thats how many major corporations get around the problem. Oh we didn't know why this sub was so cheap but the price was right.

:think:

[MindMatter]

17. Exactly what I was thinking. These people have made me so cynical

I will give IBM the benefit of the doubt. We must appreciate that a year ago, they would have put this operation in Bangalore. There's no doubt about that.

As much as I appreciate IBM deciding to do the right thing here, we need to change the economics. When companies offshore the work force, it places a huge financial burden on all of us. We need to evolve our laws such that when companies decide to do that, they must pay the FULL ECONOMIC COST of their decisions. It should always be to IBM's economic advantage to employ Americans in a support center that supports American installations.

[antigop]

19. I'm hoping this is a good sign, but I'd like a few more details. n/t

[DU9598]

6. Gov. Chet Culver

Iowa is bucking the national trends in this economic downturn. While the unemployment rate has gone up slightly, it actually went down last month and has consistently remained under 4.5 percent. Iowa has no budget deficit, 700,000,000 in cash reserves, a AAA bond rating, an educated workforce, low cost of living, and a cheap supply of electric power and biofuels. Gov. Culver can be given a lot of credit, and praise should also go to Gov. Tom Vilsack for setting the stage for the revival of our great state.

[Tashca]

12. Exactly

After 30 years of Republican rule Iowa was devastated economically....At that time our economic development was Hog buildings and prisons....oh boy.
In the early nineties when Vilsack first ran for State Senate he believed we could bring this State back with innovation and technology. That was his belief in stopping the brain drain from the area and keeping the young people here.....and of course revitalizing the area. Yes Culver deserves some credit, but Tom laid the groundwork....

I'm sending this link to my wife.....she works in technology....I hope these are decent paying jobs.

[bongbong]

8. Dubuque & E. Lansing

Great news, as long as the H1B visa holders aren't the beneficiaries.

Dubuque has to be one of the most beautiful towns in the Midwest. And East Lansing has arguably the most scenic campus in the Big 10.

[Azlady]

9. 5th recommend to the greatest page! Lets hope

that H1-B's and any visa worker are not allowed to fill these positions! We have endless US citizen workers MORE then qualified to fill these positions! Great News! Thanks Ohiochick for posting!

[antigop]

13. Yes, let's hope, Azlady. We have got to keep US tech workers employed.

We have to have jobs HERE for US workers -- not just in the tech sector--if we ever want the economy to rebound.

We need jobs.

[antigop]

10. Jan. 6, Bloomberg: IBM may cut thousands of job, employee group says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aXFIXifapQeE

International Business Machines Corp., the biggest technology employer, may cut thousands of jobs this month amid the global economic slowdown, according to the employee group Alliance for IBM.

Employees have been hearing that layoffs will take place in late January, said Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the Alliance, an organization seeking union recognition at Armonk, New York-based IBM. The size of the reduction may be larger than those in the past few years, he said today in an interview.

“Generally they go in batches of a couple hundred here and a couple hundred there,” Conrad said.

OK, this is an employee group making this claim, but why did Bloomberg print this?

Also, regardless of whether this cut actually happens or not, this is what the story says about previous layoffs:
"IBM has frequently pruned its staff over the past few years. The company had two waves of job cuts in 2007, totaling more than 2,000 positions. IBM had $318 million in job-reduction costs that year, compared with $272 million in 2006. "

So what happened to those 2,000 people let go in 2007? Did they find jobs? Would they be offered employment in the Dubuque and East Lansing facilities?

[DavidDvorkin]

16. I've heard that the cut may be as big as 15,000 jobs

And that it will be announced tomorrow.

[2Design]

11. they laid off or kicked out or got rid of most usa workers and went to other

countries - they employ more out of the usa now than in - they have done a lot to hurt the american worker

[antigop]

14. There are more questions that need to be asked-- are these really "new jobs"?

Look at what the article says:

"Workers will provide security services and remote support to IBM customers, helping to maintain computers and software systems primarily located in the United States, IBM said."

Now, unless these are NEW SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, this work had to be performed somewhere else before, right? So who was doing this support before? Someone had to, right? So if someone else was doing these jobs (assuming the jobs were in the US), then are these "new jobs"?


<edit to add> I'm really confused about this announcement. Could they be "new jobs" to IBM, or "new jobs" to Dubuque and East Lansing? How are they "new jobs" if someone was doing the work before?

[OhioChick]

15. You raise some valid points.

I'm going to dig into this a little further.