Big Blue eye glares at UK workforce

IBM has confirmed it is considering making more UK staff redundant, although no final decision has been made.

A conference call this morning informed all UK staff at IBM's Global Services Delivery unit that there would likely be redundancies, depending on the results of the consultation.

We were sent the following statement: "IBM UK is embarking on a process of consultation. It would be inappropriate to discuss the matter further during this consultation period."

An IBM insider told us: "The formal consultation period begins 23 February and will last 90 days. It has come out of the blue and is a total shock. And from a work perspective - we already struggle to get work done with the people we have."

Big Blue laid off 5,000 people last year, mostly in the US.

News of the upcoming lay-offs will go down like ton of bricks with the UK workers. Feelings are already running high after the firm scrapped its final salary pension scheme.

Sandra Gidley, Lib Dem MP for Romsey, raised questions in the Commons last month over the "shoddy" way IBM had treated its employees over pensions. ®