Staff fears over job cuts plan

Russell Steele • Published 16 Feb 2010 14:00

HUNDREDS of staff at IBM in Greenock fear for their futures after the company's plans for a UK jobs cull were disclosed.

Workers at the plant were told last week a redundancy consultation is to be launched, sparking renewed concern about the company's long-term presence in Inverclyde.

An IBM insider today revealed some staff at Greenock had been made aware of the 'possible headcount reduction' in a telephone conference call.

The worker said: "We were told to dial in to a conference call and then told, over the line, they were looking at taking action to sustain things and that redundancies could result.

"It was a pre-recorded message which meant there was no opportunity to ask any questions. They haven't mentioned how many people could go yet."

It is expected an employee consultation process will start later this month and will last 90 days.

The company has recently been on the receiving end of strong criticism for abandoning its final salary pension scheme and people behind the scenes say workers are feeling increasingly unsettled.

A source said: "A lot of unsatisfactory performance warnings have been getting issued all of a sudden and the worry is they're surreptitiously pre-selecting people to get rid of them."

A spokesman for IBM said: "We are going in to a consultation process and it would be inappropriate to discuss the situation further."

Inverclyde's MP David Cairns told the Tele IBM bosses had kept him in the dark about the potential cuts - and he is now seeking urgent clarification.

Mr Cairns, below left, told the Tele: "I have had absolutely no information about this from IBM. I am contacting the company urgently to find out what is going on.

"IBM has got in touch with me about changes at the plant in the past, but they did not do so this time."

West of Scotland MSP Ross Finnie, below right, also hit out over the company's plans.

He said: "I was dismayed by IBM's decision to abandon its final salary scheme for long-serving employees, but the latest announcement that it is to begin a process of consultation on job cuts is unbelievable.

"With IBM posting billion-dollar profits for the year, I find any justification for job cuts hard to believe. The reputation IBM has built up in Greenock is very important and IBM must work to maintain this by retaining as many local jobs as possible."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 16 Feb 10

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