Is This the Beginning of the End of Endicott?
140 Jobs at IBM Endicott Moving to East Fishkill


Sub-Contractors Laid Off

by Beverly Brown

The Apalachin Community Press has learned from IBM Endicott Manager of Communications and Public Relations Elizabeth A. Casey that IBM Global Services (IGS) is moving its Northeast Region Customer Service Center, commonly referred to as the Help Desk, from Endicott to East Fishkill.

The jobs that will move with the Help Desk to East Fishkill are the First and Second Level Help Desk positions. The First Level positions are filled by full-time and part-time employees of Computer Task Group (CTG), an IBM vendor headquartered in Buffalo. The Second Level positions are filled by IBM employees.

According to CTG personnel, approximately 100 First Level and 40 Second Level positions are affected.

On April 23, CTG management informed their employees of IBM's decision to move the Help Desk out of the Southern Tier. Half of the employees were told that their last day of work is September 1. The other half were given a two-week notice - their last day of work is May 8.

It is expected that the Second Level IBM employees will go with the Help Desk to East Fishkill or find jobs at other IBM sites.

On May 8, a portion of the calls that would have come into the Endicott Help Desk will be routed to East Fishkill. By September 1, all calls will go to East Fishkill.

It is not clear if any of the CTG employees will be offered positions in East Fishkill. But whether or not any of the 140 people go to East Fishkill, one thing is clear: the Southern Tier is losing 140 jobs.

The IBM Northeast Region Customer Service Center is a help desk that serves several IBM sites including Endicott; Rochester, Minnesota; Sterling Forest, New York; Yorktown, New York; and Burlington, Vermont; as well as outside customers such as State of Maryland Department of Human Resources, Campbells Soup, Yankee Gas, and United Health Care. CTG has had the contract for the Endicott Help Desk since August 1996.

East Fishkill is located midway between Albany and New York City. IBM's East Fishkill facility is a 980-acre site with 5,200 employees. They develop and manufacture leading-edge semiconductor technology and packaging. IBM is currently building a $700 million chip development center in East Fishkill. It is expected to be up and running in 1999. IBM Endicott also manufactures chips.

IBM Global Services, headquartered in Somers, New York, had a 1997 revenue of approximately $26 billion. They have 110,000 professionals in 164 countries. IGS is the largest information technology services provider in the world.