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• "An Old Man's Ideas" by "ancientblueconsultant". Excerpts: The Blue Pig, especially BCS can certainly be a tough place for anyone. It was tough even in the old days when there was a leadership and corporate direction incented to invest in people. This is especially true if you've had little or no help from your colleagues, and uncaring, mechanical leadership, which I hear is becoming the norm at BCS. [...] First of all, I propose that you need to explore and identify what it is that has made you unhappy at the blue pig. Could be a lot of things, not just one. Not an unusual feeling there nowadays, and you should NEVER believe the problem is all yours, despite what management says. Remember that the job of HR and management is to make you rationalize that your unhappiness has nothing to do with the company and is all because of you. There are winners and losers in IBM. The idea is to make sure losers think the problem is with them, not the organization, even if it isn't true. Make sure you can identify what makes you unhappy in another organization, so you don't repeat the problem in your next job. [...]
  A "high-performer" in the blue pig is as much about politics as it is about talent. You must judge if being a high-performer there is ever possible for you since you are already part of the political landscape in the pig and it is very difficult to shed your past at the pig. First, meet with the high performers at MFP without telling them that you are looking to go there. Are they like you? Could you be like them? If not, then you'll have your answer.
• "what about the war?" by "sap_pro". Full excerpt: Candor, Your frustration is genuine. H1B holders are a real threat to highly paid "higher end" consultants. However, if you look back - where did they start? 10 years ago or so - these guys did "low level" programming jobs. However at that time, the "high end" consultants did not feel threatened, and did not raise a finger to protect their "lower end" cousins. Over time, they started climbing up the value chain, and now they are threatening the "higher end". Now the industry leaders turn a blind eye to the plight of their "higher end" consultants.
  Given 10 more years (or less),infosys and others will threaten the big guys and then the industry leaders will start whining. By then, it won't matter whether someone whines or not. Such is life. It is the unimaginative leadership of this country that is the root cause. India and other countries are just making use of the opportunity.

• Alliance@IBM: Attention IBM employees: IBM is blocking e-mail to and from the Alliance@IBM e-mail address endicottalliance@stny.rr.com from inside the company. Please send your job cut information and other correspondence from your home e-mail. You can also contact us the following ways: Phone 607 658 9285 or Fax 607 658 9283.
• "Who's On Our Side" Campaign Will Hold Members of Congress Accountable for Their Votes. Excerpt: The AFL-CIO has launched a "Who's On Our Side" campaign to hold members of Congress accountable for the votes they cast for or against the priorities of working families. "The mission of the AFL-CIO is to fight for America's working families and that means serving as a watchdog and holding politicians accountable when they stand on the wrong side of workers," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka in announcing the campaign Dec. 13. "Working families - with the facts in hand - have the power to take back the country and make sure we are represented by leaders who are fighting for our best interests, and not the special interests, every day."
• From the Visitor's comment page and the Job Cuts Status & Comments page.
  • Comment 12/12/05: I've been looking for some place on the internet to protest the outrageous - and un-announced - increases in health care premiums for IBM employees and retirees. I'm a medicare eligible retiree who had, until this year, elected only the Rx benefit. Up to now this benefit, a 75% discount on most drugs, was free, zero premium. In 2006 it will be $66.00/ month. That's $792.00 a year! More than I would expect to pay for Rx's at my local pharmacy without any IBM discount. And no prior notice of this raise; I didn't find out what the premium would be till I got my 2006 benefits statement earlier this month. I'm sure I'm not the only IBMer who's been similarly shafted. Let's make some noise about this, dammit! -Anonymous-
  • Comment 12/13/05: I wholeheartedly agree with the recent postings about IBM being top heavy with do nothing managers. I have never ever seen so many paper pushers in one place. The sad thing is that they really think they are doing something. At the account I work on there is a ratio of three management types to one technical worker. Guess who does the most productive work? Take heart techies, many companies are starting to once again insource and rebuild their own staffs as the poor quality from the outsourced locations has caused numerous customer complaints. It really comes down to the old saying "You get what you pay for". Most IBM accounts are paying for bloated management. Once companies realize there is no long term benefit to outsourcing they will once again do it themselves so that their IT functions can be tailored to their own specific needs. Also remember that their are 14000 recent layoffs who will tell the truth about the poor quality of work that IBM provides to customer accounts. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 12/19/05: I have been an IBM employee for nearly 29 years. On Thursday, it was announced that our team (about 35 people) that we would be experiencing the equivalent of a 35% pay cut by taking us off a leveraged sales plan and placed onto salary. We have made out numbers for the last 5 years running and have been held in high esteem by the teams we support.. A big blow with timing that made this all the more painful. -Anonymous-