Picketers stood on a corner of Route 9 Thursday with posters opposing IBM Corp. job cuts and the sending of work to other countries.

Would it make a difference?

In their view, it may, though they're not saying they can prove it. But they're game.

"We've got to take some kind of action. Public visibility is one," said Tom Midgley, a Town of Poughkeepsie man who has worked for 23 years for IBM.

Most are from union

Like most of the picketers, numbering typically eight at any point during the hour-long action, he is a member of the Alliance@IBM, a union group that is part of the Communications Workers of America.

"SOS - Stop Off-Shoring," read one of the signs. Had Enough?" was the headline on another.

Joining in was Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the alliance, and an ex-IBMer, who said he's organizing a series of such events, of which this was the first.

"We're increasing the pain on IBM," he said. "Offshoring is unacceptable. Job cuts are unacceptable."

An IBM spokesman declined to comment on the picketing, but pointed out comments from top executives about the competitive importance of reducing costs.

Offshoring is moving work from the United States to other countries in search of cheaper labor and other cost savings.

Bill Costine, a Beacon resident with 25 years at IBM, said the situation is not without some remedies.

"It comes down to being a sovereign nation - what goes in and out of our nation," he said.

He blamed free-trade policies for damaging the American worker.

"Any trade that this country does should be looked at in terms of is it favorable for this country," Costine said.

IBM recently eliminated more than 1,300 jobs nationally, including 56 in Dutchess County.

Impact is 'huge'

IBM needs to downsize, if you ask Robert Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research near Phoenix, an information technology consulting firm.

The impact of offshoring will be "huge, not just IBM, but in general," he said during an interview on a visit to Poughkeepsie Wednesday.

The world's labor supply has risen dramatically in the last 15 years, he said, as China, Indian Russia and other low-cost countries "opened the doors to business."

"We're dealing with a global economy," he said. "Obviously it's going to have dramatic implications across the world, not just the U.S. No amount of ducking is going to change the fact if you're in a competitive market, you've got to adjust."

Americans will lose jobs to this trend, but, "There's nothing they can do about it. I feel very sad about the impotence they must feel," but he advised that people should adapt their skills and prepare for change.

Bill McGreevy Jr. of Wingdale, an IBMer, said he sees offshoring increasing at IBM and beyond as companies shift work not only out of the U.S. but to whichever place is cheapest overseas.

"I'm more concerned for my children," McGreevy said. "It's going to be a whole new world for them. It's going to be tougher for them to find well-paying jobs."

Reach Craig Wolf at cwolf@poughkeepsiejournal.com or 845-437-4815

Post a Comment   View All Comments IBM'ers will have to either relearn a new less paying skill, or move elsewhere, because they aren't going to save jobs the company already has slated for offshoring. If people really want to save their jobs, work with the company and agree to a 10% paycut. Many of those who have worked for IBM many, many years are making either 6 figures or close to it. If that's the case, then agree to a pay cut to save jobs from going away. Isn't this what they did anyways to the administrative staff who made a lot less than six figures? Didn't they get a pay cut? Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 10:09 am patkeepsie391 posts: There are no longer any real "living wage" jobs in the US. Look at the last career fair. Most of the jobs availible pay less than 10.00 an hour. You try living on that here in the Valley. IBM will continue to shrink, and off shore until someone realizes they have gone TOO far. By then however, the workforce will have gone elsewhere. That happened to Boeing in the late 1990's when "lean manufacturing" got out of hand and toomany employees were laid off as orders rose. Took the company nearly five years to return to a healthy level, because many of those skilled workers left the area. IBM'ers will have to either relearn a new less paying skill, or move elsewhere, because they aren't going to save jobs the company already has slated for offshoring. PJ responds: Lemme see. You probably refuse to commute to Westchester or, God forbid, NY City. Maybe your education is inadequate, or you majored in something that won't earn you a living? 18th century French poetry is a lovely thing to know, but it won't pay the rent. Maybe you only graduated high school. Maybe your skills are no longer in demand? The REAL answer is for YOU to change and adapt. If you won't or you don't, say hello to retail. Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:50 am Ibm is going to play a very expensive and short term game. Those on the inside will be able to dump the last of their shares at a decent price, the long term investors, employees, and American taxpayers, will as usual, get the shaft. Executives are going to sacrifice billions of dollars and anger many customers so deeply they may forever swear off ibm. Imagine paying for well trained, experience workers and ending up with recently hired, inexperienced help, thousands of miles away on a contract you spent millions or billions negotiating? That's the current plan, sacrifice the American workforce, replace it with the cheapest workers you can find regardless of quality and pocket the difference in the short term. While the news of layoffs will be used to excite the Wall Street greed machine, the end results are likely to be one of the biggest failures in corporate history, turning a top ten Dow earner into a second rate sinking ship. Greed is only good if you're pulling the strings at the top, for everyone else it's what all human character flaws end up being, a failure for everyone touched by it. Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:13 am This is one of the most interesting topics in America today. My children have learned in the colleges they've attended to never work for a company for more than five (5), yes, five years. There is no loyality in an employee that knows that in five years after getting a job, he or she will be moving on. This will not only effect the way businesses are run, but, will indeed effect the business in such a way that it will not have roots. IBM is loosing its' roots. It is crumbling out from under the threshold of the business and the executives don't have a clue. I've heard of several engineers, programmers, schedulers, and yes even the little guys in Manufacturing state that they will be leaving soon, not only b/c of the benefit(s) lose, the cost of living, no bonus's and very little raises, if any at all. Nothing that will keep up with today's economy. Maybe this is where the polititions in the Dutchess and Ulster counties should step in to put a hurting on IBM in the way of taxing their product(s) and business in general. That is, if it continues to moves jobs offshore. IBM executives better listen to its' forfather(s), its' company was built on its' people. I've noticed that the quality of the work, is getting less and less as the employees of IBM get more and more taking away. Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:00 am The real problem is IBM doesn't have any new product coming out this year, they want to maintain 6% growth so the easiest way is to start getting rid of people. The executives are only concerned with their bonuses, THATS IT! Its a very short sited group of greedy bastards running the company! What they either don't realize or just plain don't care is that their salaries are way to bloated! It takes alot of revenue to pay all the hogs at the trough. My prediction is this will come back to bite them in a very bad way! Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 4:33 am Post a Comment   View All Comments