Any constructive talk about the paltry raises IBM has been giving out
this month? Or is everyone numb in shock?

I for one asked HR why the raise announcements were being delayed and
I got a response that signalled me in early June that the raises
would have to be poor since the response I got was not believable. I
told them it was unacceptable to delay the announcement and also
delay the raises upwards to two weeks even with a retroactive action.
(who got to play with the 2 weeks' raise money buckets and interest?).

It also showed that IBM wanted to close and dust 2nd QTR first before
announcing gloomy raise news to the resources. But gloomy news should
have been foreseen already once the I/T Specialists and System Admins
in 06A got clobbered with a -15% base pay cut. One could only
conclude that the raises would stink since the same IBM comment on
it "..we (IBM) have to do this pay remix to remain competitive.."
also actually applies to these recent raises as well.

IBM says they pay based on performance but how come some PBC "1"
performers got no raise? How come PBC "2+" in skilled areas got
little or also no raise? And how come no MBA's for skill groups that
have many well below their market base reference midpoint pay for
PBC "2+" appraisals for many, many, consecutive years?

2007 was supposedly a banner year for profits and revenues in IBM.
The executives did well and judging from their insider trades are
still doing quite well for themselves.

So all those profits went to stock buybacks for the executives to
enjoy and none was put into the raise buckets for employees. So even
if IBM has a bad QTR going forward the rainy day for the executive is
but a drizzle and not a drencher like it will be for the IBM resource
(we used to be called an employee).

So what is next in 2009? Either no raises at all, less bonus pay if
any at all, or more folks being added to the 7600 pay cut folks?

I say we do our best now to work toward getting IBM to the table with
a collective bargaining agreement since we have to hold them to a
written contract since they don't make any positive promises to us
anymore and whatever ones they made in the past they seem free to
break. If IBM had a great 2007 then our raises should reflect it with
at least an average raise at the rate of inflation!!! If 2008 is
also stellar then we should also see better raises as well.