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With the recession continuing its hold on the economy, IBM is reportedly preparing for another round of layoffs, according to a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.

The cuts are expected to affect a large swath of U.S. employees in IBM's global business services unit, with a number of the jobs reassigned to workers in India, the Journal reported.
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Talk of pending layoffs in IBM's services unit is making the rounds on Alliance@IBM, a Communications Workers of America affiliate attempting to organize IBM workers into a union.

On the Alliance@IBM site, two posts Wednesday referenced pending layoffs in the services unit:

Comment 3/25/09: I talked to two different Band 10s in IBM Global Business Services yesterday who have both said that tomorrow will be a big day for firing in almost all of the GBS business units. Both of them are expecting that they will be cut because the percentages are going to be higher at the higher levels. Both made reference to this could be called a black Thursday. I know that several employees have been contacted by their manager to have a short meeting that day. My manager has not said anything to me yet but I am already preparing myself for the news. -Anonymous-

Comment 3/25/09: 'there is definitely a GBS lay off coming very soon. Big lay offs across the board' Thank you, -modest mouse-. This is welcome news to those being tortured on the bench. -anonymouse-

IBM was not immediately available for comment.

In January, IBM had 16 blocks a round of layoffs, but declined to disclose the area of the cuts, or location. Published reports, however, referred to North America as the location of the layoffs.

Big Blue tentatively has its first-quarter earnings report scheduled for April 20.