Of the 180 people impacted by the Tuesday layoff, 110 were regular employees and 70 were long-term supplemental employees, which IBM Spokesman Jeff Couture explained are contract, flexible work employees.

Most of the positions affected are in manufacturing, Couture said, noting that the 110 total includes employees directly involved in manufacturing, such as technicians and engineers, and some managers. All of the 70 supplemental employees are “manufacturing operators,” which Armonk, NY-based IBM defines as an employee who is on a manufacturing line, running a piece of equipment, processing semiconductor wafers.

Rumors of such a layoff began swirling when Big Blue’s systems and technology division, the business group that includes the Burlington plant, noted sagging revenues, down by 7% year over year in Q1.

“[The action] was taken to rebalance skills, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and respond to evolving market conditions,” Couture said.

Layoffs are a common action this time of year, as companies look to balance costs for the second half. Indeed, IBM laid off 450 manufacturing employees in July 2007 from its East Fishkill, NY; Poughkeepsie, NY; and Burlington facilities. 

To be true, IBM is not the only company eliminating positions in recent weeks. Motorola mid-June announced 150 layoffs from its R&D group and Xilinx in early June announced it would cut 250 employee by the end of the September quarter. Specifically, related to fab work, Spansion announced in early June that it will lay off 500 employees as it continues to keep eye on manufacturing expenses and ON Semiconductor in mid-May announced it would eliminate 400 positions as it closed two fabs.

With this week’s job cuts, IBM’s Burlington plant now has around 5,400 employees.

By: DocMemory
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