Posted on 02/04/2009 2:54:59 PM PST by ex-snook
InformationWeek
IBM Offers To Move Laid Off Workers To India
Big Blue wants to help redundant U.S. employees relocate to developing markets, according to an internal document.
By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek Feb. 2, 2009 URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213000389
The climate is warm, there's no shortage of exotic food, and the cost of living is rock bottom. That's IBM's pitch to the laid-off American workers it's offering to place in India. The catch: Wages in the country are pennies-on-the-dollar compared to U.S. salaries.
Under a program called Project Match, IBM will help workers laid off from domestic sites obtain travel and visa assistance for countries in which Big Blue has openings. Mostly that's developing markets like India, China, and Brazil.
"IBM has established Project Match to help you locate potential job opportunities in growth markets where your skills are in demand," IBM says in an internal notice on the initiative. "Should you accept a position in one of these countries, IBM offers financial assistance to offset moving costs, provides immigration support, such as visa assistance, and other support to help ease the transition of an international move."
The document states that the program is limited to "satisfactory performers who have been notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada and are willing to work on local terms and conditions." The latter indicates that workers will be paid according to prevailing norms in the countries to which they relocate. In many cases, that could be substantially less than what they earned in North America.
IBM has laid off more than 4,000 workers in the United States since the beginning of January, according to an employee group. The company has confirmed layoffs but won't comment on specific numbers.
A spokesman for Alliance@IBM, a workers' group that's affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but which does not have official union status at IBM, slammed the program. "IBM is not only offshoring IBM U.S. jobs but they want employees to offshore themselves through Project Match," said the spokesman.
An IBM spokesman said the program shouldn't be seen in that light. "It's more of a vehicle for people who want to expand their life experience by working somewhere else," said the spokesman. "A lot of people want to work in India."
In addition to India, China, and Brazil, IBM is offering to relocate redundant U.S. workers to a number of other developing markets, including Mexico, the Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the notice, which was obtained Monday by InformationWeek.
Copyright © 2007 CMP Media LLC
Here I am standing beside myself. OK, India is growing and all but wtfried chicken? Have I missed something? India? IBM. What an adventure. Gobsmacked I suppose.
I’ve been waiting for this. Lessee how other countries take to large numbers of ethnically diverse peoples populating their lands.
IBM can go f**k themselves! Intel once offered to move me to Costa Rica with an 80% cut in pay and I said the same to them. I’m buying my next servers from Dell or HP.
So they’re not really laying off, they’re just shifting to a third world labor force.
Yep, if I could afford it I’d jump at the chance to take a job at a technical support desk in India. I’d have to call myself “Bob” and learn how to speak broken Hindi with a completely non understandable accent, but the revenge would be worth it.
“That’s IBM’s pitch to the laid-off American workers it’s offering to place in India. The catch: Wages in the country are pennies-on-the-dollar compared to U.S. salaries.”
Last I heard, wages in India were 60% or so what they are in the U.S.
A Czech Republic position would be nice. Beautiful country, nice people, good beer, and Germany right next door.
Won’t work. In the immortal words of the “One”...we’re all “mutts”. India, China, Japan don’t like mutts. Plus India is an oven. My brother-in-law goes once a year for CSC and “roasts”. He enjoyed it the 1st time, hates it now.
India? Hmmm. Bollywood movies. All singing and dancing. The audience sings along. Lotsa fun!
Sheesh, why the heck doesn’t IBM relocate the business back to the USA? What an attitude. Relocate the jobs, then relocate the people. Soon there’ll be nuttin over here.
You bet, Czech Republic and I’d be packing this evening!
IBM’s Leeeegal Aliens program, got to love it! I was on something like that for two years in the late 70’s - about $250. per month total compensation, plus health care and a bit of travel expenses. It was called “Peace Corps”.
I thought I had heard it all.
For those who can find a job...
Not at six or seven thousand a year.
But I have this mental image of Indian IT people, ten years from now, complaining about all those H1-Bs from America taking all the jobs from Indian programmers.
“Last I heard, wages in India were 60% or so what they are in the U.S.”
When IBM replaced me with a Brazilian his salary came to about 1/5 of mine. I don’t think India is that far ahead of Brazil is it?
It’d be interesting to know just how receptive these target nations would be to a bunch of American citizens relocating to their nations to take jobs. Can’t see that many would be interested but laid off IBM people who originated from those nations, or a few very adventurous white or black US citizens.
On the other hand, think of what a great country the U.S. will be when nobody can afford to live here.
I wonder if you have to come back for military service.
This proposition kind of adds another dimension to “One World Ready or Not.” http://www.amazon.com/One-World-Ready-Not-Capitalism/dp/0684835541
If capital is freely wandering around the globe, seeking the best deals from various states, then why should not labor as well?
The deciding factor is of course the bottom line. If the choice is between being unemployed in America, starting a business from scratch, or moving to (ahem) a “developing nation” to work for a little more than subsistence, then it really does become a cost/benefit analysis.
Myself, I say: the devil take your anti-American self-offshoring invitation to poverty. However, to each his own.
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