Cisco quietly downsizing through outsourcing

[OhioChick]

Network World , 03/12/2009

When Cisco celebrated the fifth anniversary of its New England Development Center in Boxborough, Mass., last fall - a ceremony attended by Massachusetts Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and a representative from Gov. Deval Patrick’s office - the company was quietly preparing to move several jobs from there and other locations to contractors in India and elsewhere, mostly in the company's Network Management Technology Group (NMTG).

In Cisco parlance, a “limited restructuring” was underway, under the radar.

These “LRs,” as Cisco sources call them, are a way for the company to cut costs by reducing workforce in small, incremental moves without having to publicly announce or disclose the actions in compliance with U.S. Department of Labor regulations, like the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). These specific NMTG LRs are separate from the planned reduction of 1,500 to 2,000 positions Cisco announced during its earnings call last month, which, the company says, complied fully with WARN and other federal labor regulations.

Enacted in 1989, WARN requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60-day advance notice of plant closings and mass layoff of employees. Exemptions to WARN notifications include a plant closing or layoff that results in fewer than 50 workers losing their jobs at a single employment site; or if the number of employees losing their jobs is less than 33% of the employer’s total workforce at a single employment site.

Cisco says it filed two WARN notifications in the past six months for actions at its San Jose headquarters and another for operations in Richardson, Texas. IBM reportedly skirted WARN notifications while incrementally reducing its North American workforce by over 4,000 employees.

Cisco says it has been restructuring the NMTG for up to a year. Sources within Cisco say as many as 128 positions from NEDC, Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Scotland were outsourced to Tech Mahindra in India during that time.

More: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/031209-cisco-downsizing-outsourcing.html

[ChromeFoundry]

1. "incremental moves without having to publicly announce or disclose"

sigh...

[ihavenobias]

2. K & R, amazing how that works. n/t

[jkshaw]

3. This should absolutely NOT be allowed.

I'm personally writing a letter to the Obama administration site against ALL outsourcing now for any reason.

[w4rma]

4. Cisco, the company that supposedly secures most U.S. networks with their hardware and software is

moving everything overseas. I will never buy another Cisco router. They are no longer secure.

[OnionPatch]

5. Another traitor.

If a company wants to send their jobs overseas, they should have absolutely no access to American markets.

[Skittles]

6. wanna hear something funny, Chick?

Brazilian folk bitching because their work being shipped to Malaysia - saying it's not because they're better but CHEAPER. HELLO!!! How do YOU think you got the work from America in the FIRST place?

[OhioChick]

8. Speechless..... n/t

[otohara]

7. More "LOST" Jobs - Lost to India

it pisses me off they label them as "lost"