Fired by IBM for Medical Leave, Rampant Censorship of IBM Critics Explained
Posted 21 hours ago by "Anonymous" was this highly rated comment about what IBM allegedly did to a sick worker: "A new leader was put in place while I was on medical leave. they hired someone to "help" out while I was out. I was RA'ed about a month after I returned from leave - being told my role was now duplicative. This new leader was toxic, played favorites - and still there I hear, which is not surprising. Our HR rep did nothing to help me - she would not even respond to my messages. In the 5 or so years I worked at IBM, I always had glowing reviews, got annual raises/bonuses, and got promoted a few times. Never had a bad review. I saw several very great people get RAed - while several middle-of-the-road employees get promoted because they were just fantastic at kissing the as--s above them. There are so many other places that pay so much better and have managers that actually care. Get out as soon as you can - unless you love what you're working on, have a manager you can actually count on, and are getting paid decently....I did not know a ton of folks that fit all 3 criteria here at IBM after 5 years sadly."
We've seen all sorts of other stories like that. This is how IBM in general tends to treat older colleagues. There's no compassion, no oversight, no sympathy. "Get out of the room! Make space for new 'human resources', dinobaby!"
Some hours ago someone else said: "At IBM and other technology companies, terrible management treats their employees as a number. There is no human element anymore to decent management. If you are sales, you are measured on your quota attainment and utilization if in services."
The reply was: "At IBM, management is as useless as it can be. It is just a gathering of stinking POS."
Some days ago we talked about how, according to insiders, IBM recently asked workers to leave so that the layoffs will be either smaller or invisible. This is how this discussion has developed since:
Yes, there are some racial remarks there, but many are spot-on and not racist.
Speaking of "racism" as a catch-all excuse for censorship, weeks ago we said that IBM controls Reddit where it censors dissent, especially in the "section" ("sub") for IBM. They workers had to create an alternative in which this censorship is discussed in recent hours: (and they say that too is at risk of being censored as similar moderators have entered)
There are some interesting comments there about the nature and scope or censorship in "r/ibm", for example: "If you mention that all the jobs are going to India, r/ibm will characterize it as "racist comments" and block you. If you're using it as a racist insult, I could see it; but their moderators routinely use it as a reason to get rid of troublemakers. After all, it is hardly controversial that the vast majority of Ibm jobs have gone to India - about 40 K left in the US and over 150 K in India. Where is the controversy? It's just math at this point."
"Probably people from India are overseeing it," somebody said, but later someone said the main two moderators are based in Australia and in the US (though might be of Indian descent).
"Most likely though it is hard to prove," someone wrote. "So I tried to be respectful. But I won't lie - all IBM jobs so far have gone to India - not replaced by "AI" - and making it clear how much we all dislike Arvind isn't inherently racist - he IS a complete piece of shit. That has nothing to do with where he is from, it is an apt description of the lives he has destroyed for his personal enrichment. May he burn in hell."
"It's overtaken by IBM PR team," someone asserted after someone else had said "it is overseen by ibm". "Then," another person suggested, "it is overseen by some sort of third party ibm reputation management shills."
Some people say this has nothing to do with racism, which has become mostly an excuse.
Someone threatened to take action over it and said: "Yes. I was blocked for discussing employment related matters. I have an attorney collecting evidence. [...] We also have a statement from Reddit that the reason I was banned was not a TOS violation."
Another commenter: "BS. I was blocked for merely stating the jobs have all gone to India. No nasty racist content, just a statement. Mostly because I am so sick of the fake "AI is stealing our jobs" narrative when they are all just being offshored to a single country, a humble brag that we have tech that could replace real workers when we most definitely do not."
We've already caught and showed many cases where thelayoff.com deleted comments that were not even remotely racist, e.g. TheLayoff.com Deletes Comment That Called IBM's Previous CEO, Ginni Rometty, "Gin 'n Tonic". █
Image source: Various Tablets