EDS Offers 11% of Work Force Early Retirement

[OhioChick]

Source: EWeek

September 12, 2007
The outsourcing giant has been cutting jobs in the U.S. while hiring workers in lower-cost countries.


At an estimated cost of between $70 million to $130 million, outsourcing giant EDS said in a Sept. 12 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it will offer early retirement packages to about 12,000 U.S. employees in the fourth quarter, or more than 11 percent of its 136,000 worldwide work force.

After receiving board authorization Sept. 6, the company announced the offer to its staff on Sept. 11. Employees have until Oct. 30 to accept or reject the offer.

Workers who opt for the early retirement will receive an additional $10,000 from the retirement plan, as well as extra credits to their retirement account, according to the filing.

This benefit is equal to five times the allotted annual funds made to their company retirement plan.




Read more: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2182591,00.asp

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Getting rid of US workers......Bastards. :mad:

[Mountainman]

1. Afterward they will go to court to end the retirement plan and all future payouts.

[TexasLawyer]

2. ironies abound...

the outsourcer's employees getting outsourced.

Second in revenue to only IBM among United States technology services companies, EDS, based in Plano, Texas, has cut costs over the last several years. The cuts have included the elimination of 5,000 jobs in 2003 and 20,000 in 2004.

Its current CEO, Ronald Rittenmeyer, took over on Sept. 1 and is said to be hiring workers in India to revive profit by replacing more-expensive U.S. employees. Rittenmeyer said he would be bringing its work force in low-cost countries, including India, Brazil and the Czech Republic, from 38,000 to 45,000 by the end of 2008.

[rateyes]

3. Isn't that Ross Perot's company?

[yella_dawg]

4. Yep!

Well known in IT circles as a totally weird place to work. Note: Most of EDS' business is US Government Data processing, primarily, Medicare (as of ten years ago, anyway).

[salib]

5. Don't forget GM, which bought EDS, spuni it off, and still uses them heavily

[notadmblnd]

8. It was a wierd place to work in the 80's with the strict dress code and all

but they relaxed a lot in the 90's when GM bought the company. yes, EDs has/had a lot of government contracts, but Medicare wasn't the biggest and GM no longer is. EDS has accounts with banks pharmaceuticals, governments, (both state and federal) along with many large corporations.

[notadmblnd]

6. No, perot sold it to GM and Gm gave it the old spin off back in the late 90's.

I was one of the 5,000 let go in 2003. I had 28 years and was still young to retire. In fact, I'm still to young to retire as EDS's policy is you have to be at least 50.

[rateyes]

7. I have a friend who we call "Duckie" who works there...

mid-40's. I thought that was the company.

[DemReadingDU]

9. I used to work for EDS too

I was terminated in April 2002, along with thousands of others in the U.S. We received 20 days (4 weeks) salary, not even a month. Healthcare stopped at midnight on the day we were marched out of the office. Everyone in my office who was terminated was about 45-60 years old and and had 15 to 25 years of service, except for 1 young man who was in his late 20's. So EDS could say that these terminations weren't due to age discrimination. Ha.

Originally, I started in 1981 and worked for GMAC, doing computer programming for car loans. Then in 1985 we transitioned to EDS, but still worked on the same projects. I finally was able to officially retire at 55.

[notadmblnd]

10. is that when they let you have access to your pension?

I'm still only 48. Never thought I say I'm only 48 but yea, it sounds like the same procedure I went through. I guess you could say I was lucky in an ironic sort of way. I was a recent widow and my husband was a GM'er. I have his pension and health benefits and since our son was 10 at the time, I qualified for SS survivor benefits. SS Benefits will end for me in 2009 so I will need to look for employment again as I turn 50. I'll get to keep my GM benefits as long as I dont remarry.

Did you work in Plano? I worked in Auburn Hills with the Hardware Planning group working mostly with project managers getting their equipment in and coordinating installation with the SEs. I think my package was a little better, since I was considered a soft termination as I volunteered. I was paid for two months in addition to approximately 11,000 in severance.

[DemReadingDU]

11. Did not work in Plano

in Dayton, Ohio. In 2002, the terminations were very hard. In fact, some areas of the country the people received NOTHING in severance. Many terminated tryied to form a class action lawsuit. There was a website, edslawsuits.com, that was keeping track of it all. That site closed down a couple years ago. I was 53 then, and still EDS would not allow retirement unless 55. You really are fortunate to have the GM benefits. EDS is paltry retirement with no healthcare.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your husband, and with a young child to raise.