"There are two kinds of people in America: Italians, and those that want to be Italian." Everyone laughed! (This isn't funny to me as I believe that certain Italians feel this way.) ...cal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh
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A lakh (
/ˈlæk/ lak or /ˈlɑːk/ lahk; also lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 105). It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article1327438.ece
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IBM now has one lakh staff in India
Bangalore, Feb. 10:
All speculation around the number of employees IBM has in India would perhaps be laid to rest now with the IBM Chairman himself admitting that the company has close to one lakh people in India, representing 25 per cent of its global workforce. IBM has 3,99,409 employees worldwide, according to the company Web site.
“In India, we have close to a lakh people — that may not be huge to Indians, but 25 per cent of our workforce is in India... so that's big,” said Mr Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM, during a guest lecture at the Indian Institute of Science here. Mr Palmisano was on a visit to India in commemoration of IBM's centenary celebrations.
For long, IBM has refused to come on record about its India work-force numbers. The last time IBM reported its India headcount was in 2007 when it had over 73,000 employees.
“Though IBM has tried to guard its India numbers, it's was always an open-secret that it employs a lakh people here,” says an industry analyst.
And with Mr Palmisano's revelation, IBM can now ‘officially' be placed in the lakh-league. Tata Consultancy Services is the largest IT company in India with 1.7 lakh employees, followed by Infosys with 1.2 lakh people. Wipro and Cognisant too have over 1 lakh employees.
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The fact that IBM has over one lakh people on its rolls in this country is one of India Inc's best-kept secrets. No one in US-headquartered IBM will admit that it employs such a large number of people in India -- for fear of a backlash at home. There's been rising anger in the US over the transfer of `American jobs' to lower cost havens, particularly India. Faced with an economic slowdown and a politically-damaging high employement rate, Barack Obama himself has begun to sound jingoistic. He has issued barely-veiled threats against US companies that ship out work and promised candies to those who stay patriotic.
Even as an IBM spokesperson declined comment when contacted, a source within the company said that in a couple of years, the India employee strength could cross that in the US, where it employs about 1,55,000 people, and where the pace of hiring is substantially slower than in India. IBM globally has a little over 4,00,000 employees. So, close to 1 in 3 of its employees is already an Indian.
http://wraltechwire.com/business/tech_wire/news/blogpost/9712730/
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Updated Jun. 10, 2011 at 11:44 a.m.
New global union calls for IBM to 'respect' workers' rights
By RICK SMITH, WRAL Tech Wire Editor
The Global Union Alliance at IBM, which took shape in May, unveiled a video on YouTube on June 10 that includes employees and union representatives from around the world offering a “happy birthday video.” (Watch the video here.)
The collective union also called for a “common action” across IBM’s global operations on June 14 as a demand to “call on the company to recognize the vital role played by IBMers in the company’s success and to respect their rights as workers.”
The video and call for action are the first major initiatives launched by the Global Union Alliance.
A spokesperson for the union said the group’s complaints about workers rights and unions primarily focused on Bulgaria, Turkey and Chile where he said IBM has fought to keep workers from joining sanctioned organizations.
In the past, unions organized a “silent strike” and a “virtual strike” in cyberspace.
As part of Friday’s announcement, union representatives asked for a meeting with IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano.
IBM has been asked for comment.
The world’s largest technology company with 430,000 employees recently cut an undisclosed numbers across the US, including in RTP and North Carolina, while opening a new data center in the Midwest and expanding operations in India. India reportedly now has the largest number of IBM workers. (Read more about the layoffs here and IBM's growth in India here.)
Secrecy about job cuts
“In the US, job cuts are constant,” said Tom Midgley, president of Alliance@IBM in the US. “IBM hides that fact, as well as the number of jobs cut, from other employees, communities, elected officials and the media. IBM is off-shoring work at a record pace and sending loyal IBMers to the unemployment line.
“The more than 15,000 ex-employees terminated in the past few years and the thousands more fearing future job loss and declining working conditions will not have the spirit of celebration IBM executives are hoping for.”
IBM no longer says how many employees it has in the US, citing competitive reasons.
Based on data previously provided by IBM, its workforce in the US has declined substantially since 2005. No data was made available in 2010.
- 2009: 105,000
- 2008: 115,000
- 2007: 121,000
- 2006: 127,000
- 2005: 133,789
As a matter of policy, IBM also does not announce layoffs nor confirm details about the so-called “resource actions” if the media learns about cuts and asks about them.
IBM has asked its employees to volunteer 8 hours or more with local service organizations as part of its 100th anniversary. Palmisano said earlier this week that some 62 percent of BigBlue workers were doing so. (Read details here.)
The “heart” of IBM
One speaker on the video asks that IBM “take care” the workers who are the “heart” of the company.
Another, a woman who says she has worked at Big Blue for 30 years says it is no longer the “great company” she had joined.
A representative also asks that IBM include unions in its anniversary celebrations.
The group is also seeking pay raises.
Various unions represent IBM in several countries. Alliance@IBM, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, is seeking to represent IBMers in the US.
The global alliance is an effort to expand unionizing efforts at IBM, which so far have been largely unsuccessful, especially in the US.
IBM employs some 10,000 people at its campus in RTP and across North Carolina.
The Global Union Alliance also said Palmisano had been asked to “intervene” in Bulgaria where IBM has “refused to recognize the union as it is legally obligated to do.” That request was made in October, and Palmisano has not responded, the group said.
Get the latest news alerts: Follow WRAL Tech Wire at Twitter.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-08-18/india-business/28286029_1_ibm-daksh-ibm-s-india-ibm-spokesperson
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IBM is India's second largest pvt sector employer
BANGALORE: Tata Consultancy Services is the largest private sector employer in the country. It had 1,63,700 employees as on June 30. But guess who's number 2?
The honour goes to -- surprise, surprise -- IBM. That's right. Not to any Tata or Ambani company, or to Infosys or Wipro.
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/tennant/us-grand-jury-subpoenas-infosys-in-visa-fraud-investigation/?cs=47148
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The honour goes to -- surprise, surprise -- IBM. That's right. Not to any Tata or Ambani company, or to Infosys or Wipro.
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/tennant/us-grand-jury-subpoenas-infosys-in-visa-fraud-investigation/?cs=47148
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U.S. Grand Jury Subpoenas Infosys in Visa Fraud Investigation
Posted by Don Tennant May 25, 2011 2:14:20 PMhttp://healthfreedoms.org/2010/03/02/indian-law-would-make-criticizing-gm-crops-an-imprisonable-offense/
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