Executive reassures 2,800 IBM staff as axe looms

• Scottish Executive tells IBM Greenock there is no real threat to their jobs

• IBM's announcement of a 13,000 job cut has worried Greenock plant's staff

• Scottish plant once manufactured PCs and employed 6,000

Key quote "We fear the worst, given that it is quicker, cheaper and easier to get rid of workers in the UK than elsewhere in Europe" - Peter Skyte, Amicus’ national officer

Story in full WORKERS at IBM’s Greenock plant were told by the Scottish Executive yesterday the group had given assurances that there was no significant threat to their jobs, despite sweeping cuts to its workforce across Europe.

The future of the factory, with some 2,800 employees, was thrown into doubt by IBM’s announcement that about 13,000 jobs were to go, and the firm infuriated staff and unions by refusing to give details of where the axe would fall.

But the Executive insisted that talks between ministers and IBM management in recent weeks had produced assurances of no major threat to the Scottish operation.

A spokeswoman for the Executive said: "Ministers have been in touch with IBM in the last week or so and have received assurances that there is no significant threat to Greenock.

"Officials have contacted the company this morning and have been assured that the position has not changed. We are maintaining close contact and officials will be meeting the company tomorrow."

But the Amicus trade union lambasted the computer and consultancy company for its approach to the job cuts and its refusal to give details about which countries and which plants would bear the brunt.

"We deplore the callous and cynical way the company has gone about this," said a union spokeswoman. "To make the announcement that 13,000 jobs are to be shed across Europe and then leave its workforce in the dark as to where and when the axe will fall is not the way for a company of IBM’s stature to behave."

Peter Skyte, Amicus’ national officer, said: "We fear the worst, given that it is quicker, cheaper and easier to get rid of workers in the UK than elsewhere in Europe."

An IBM spokesman in Paris, Fred McNeese, said most of the job losses would be voluntary, but he declined to give a breakdown of how many posts would be lost in each country. "We’re still working with work councils and consulting with employee organisations," he said.

The job cuts - equivalent to 3 to 4 per cent of IBM’s 329,000-strong workforce - did not come out of the blue: last month, Mark Loughridge, the chief financial officer, warned of a "sizeable restructuring" at the company.

IBM, which has increased its levels of consultancy and services work, shocked investors in April when it missed first-quarter earnings estimates by five cents (2.7p) a share.

The main thrust of the changes will see IBM strip out layers of bureaucracy in order to have a higher ratio of staff in client-facing roles. The firm said it would run fewer services offices worldwide and reduce the number of managers in pan-European roles.

A company statement said: "As a result, IBM will create a number of smaller, more flexible local operating units in Europe to increase direct client contact."

In Greenock, local officials were hoping the centre would avoid the round of cost cuts. The plant once manufactured PCs and employed about 6,000, but is now almost entirely dedicated to global services, taking over computer room operations for other companies and providing consulting, repair and help-desk operations.

Tom Fyfe, an Inverclyde councillor, said: "The point about Greenock is that it’s got a call centre for the whole of Europe. What we’re hoping is that they will develop this and there might be more jobs."