by Laura Conaway

IBM let another 1,200 people go today, union organizer Lee Conrad says, bringing the total layoffs at the company in the last week to about 4,000.

IBM has mostly declined to comment on the layoffs, except to acknowledge that they're happening. Several major corporations have announced job cuts this week totaling some 60,000 in the U.S., but IBM has reduced its workforce quietly.

 

The union, Alliance@IBM, a local of the Communications Workers of America, has been collecting reports of "Resource Actions" on its website. Conrad says the cuts today came in the Systems Technology Group, which deals with computer hardware. He reports layoffs in Burlington, Vermont; East Fishkill, New York; Tucson, Arizona; San Jose, California; Rochester, Minnesota; and the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.

IBM employs about 400,000 people worldwide, including 130,000 in North America. On Jan. 20, it posted a 12 percent jump in fourth-quarter profits from 2007 to 2008. On Jan. 21, North American workers began reporting layoffs.

Last week, some IBM workers said they've been offered a chance to work with IBM in other countries. Conrad said that wasn't the case with Tuesday's layoffs. "These jobs are going away," he said.