IBM Singapore plant closes, all layoffs
According to a report from Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao on April 13, the technology giant IBM will close its manufacturing facilities in Singapore and all its employees will be laid off. Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower stated that it has been notified by the company that it will assist the laid-off employees.
Between May and July last year, Singapore's International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) carried out several rounds of layoffs. Now the Tampines factory will be closed and the remaining workers will be laid off.
In response to a query from Singapore’s “Today”, IBM stated that it would transfer the production line of the computer IBM Z system from Singapore to Poughkeepsie, New York, because the factory originally had a production power system with the required technology, procedures, and Equipment and experts.
IBM, headquartered in New York, did not announce the exact number of layoffs, but said that all affected employees will leave the company before the end of July 2019.
Some Singaporean media quoted internal sources in 2018 as saying that IBM's factory in Tampines has 400 to 600 employees. There have been three rounds of layoffs last time, and more than 200 employees have been laid off.
According to reports, several employees and subcontractors who did not want to be named stated that at least 70% of employees will leave the company at the end of this month, and the rest will leave at the end of July. Employees were informed of the closure of the factory and the upcoming shutdown in early March.
The layoffs led by the Singapore Workforce Development Board (WSG) responded to the employment assistance team when asked, said that IBM has notified the Ministry of Manpower about the layoffs.
The spokesperson said that WSG, the Employment and Function Training Center (e2i), and the Singapore National Workers' Association will provide employment services assistance to employees under the contingency and improvement plan.
Yang Yicai, executive secretary of the Singapore Electronics and Electrical Industry Workers' Federation (UWEEI), said that the union had received notice of layoffs from IBM in advance and was working closely with the company to assist the laid-off employees.