IBM Layoffs

[BUM]

Poughkeepsie rumor mills (not to mention gin mills) have been working overtime lately expecting announcements of deep cut layoffs in the Hudson Valley.

Usually these things happen on a Friday. A couple department-sized layoffs were announced yesterday in Poughkeepsie. TGIF is now referred to as Pink Slip Friday.

 

[brewer12345]

Hey, that's nothing compared to Ford: 25000 jobs to be cut! Thats a good-sized town...

 

[unclemick]

Ah - the good old days!

You should have lived in Seattle in mid 1968 - 1970/71? Boeing peaked at around 100-110,000 employee's and bottomed at around 35-40,000 depending on who you talk to. They were trying to cancel contracts and run school teachers out town because of falling enrollment. Kobe Japan was sending Care Packages and the Council of Churches was feeding 78,000 people a week. I landed in Denver on another space program job in 1970 with another company.

Glad I was young, flexible, and employible in those days.

The round of layoff's that got me at 49 in 1993 - propelled me into ER - although I didn't know it at the time.

Agile, Mobile and Hostile ala Bear Bryant.

Still! ala Will Roger's - it's not fun when it's YOU!

 

[kat]

That's tough news. Living further up the Hudson Valley, I can remember times when IBM had massive lay-offs. It's never an easy situation, given the lack of similar businesses in the area. The state usually comes in with some announcement of offering re-training..... The upheaval in people's lives is sobering.

 

[brewer12345]

I have been listening to "Bait & Switch" on CDin the car this week. Its about a white collar job search and definately has had me thinking. I think I'm pretty employable and Iknow how to do the job searrch, but I suppose you never know. I have given some thought to back-up plans, though, such as what kind of business I could start if need be or where I could feasibly re-locate to if I had to.

 

[yakers]

I'm sorry to hear of layoffs anywhere in the USA. But I will mention one thing is that there may be opportunities here too. As mentioned about the Boeing cutbacks in Seattle, that was a time when someone who had stashed a little cash could buy assets cheaply. I know one school teacher who bought two houses on the cheap and she did not have a lot of money. Over the next few years she made a lot more out of them than her teaching job. So maybe if someone wanted to move to the areas where Ford or IBM are cutting, this would be a good tiem. Or if you think the areas will recover it could be an investment opportunity?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You should have lived in Seattle in mid 1968 - 1970/71

Or Boston area in the mid to late 80's when Prime, Wang, Data General, Digital and all their related companies all burped up hundreds of thousands of employees over a couple of year period. I couldnt even hire then because the signal to noise ratio was lousy. I'd put an ad in the paper for an engineer to do local area networking stuff and I'd get 4000 resumes from guys who did disk drive servos for 15 years.

I think the good news is, as yakers mentioned, if one is doing poorly, another one is probably doing well. Thats where the agile and mobile parts come in. If you see another job applicant, feel free to apply the hostile part.

 

[HFWR]

Late 70s in Indiana, the line at the unemployment office stretched around the block...

Supposed to apply for at least three jobs per week; were lucky to find three employers who would even accept an application...

The bad ol' days, for sure.

 

[Gpax7]

How about the million and a half laid off by the federal Dept of Defense in the last 18 years? I lost my job twice and not all govt workers work in quiet A/C ofices. My work environ is hot, perspiration filled , noisy, and dangerous. and in 34 days I will be out.