According to two sources IBM is laying off employees in multiple cities. The large groups of layoffs are happening in Los Angeles, Toronto, North Carolina and Silicon Valley.

The layoff are company wide across all divisions. Apparently, they layoffs are happening in small groups, meaning a person being cut here and there from various groups so that nobody notices it. One source said, he thought an employee he interacted with occasionally was away sick only to learn later that he was laid off.

In North Carolina, where the company employees 10,000 people the layoffs are expected to be significant but it is expect to happen slowly over a longer period.

In Silicon Valley, where IBM’s WebSphere development and support lab is located and “estimated 40-50%” of the staff are to be laid off or reorganized” according to a post on the Alliance@IBM Web site. The Alliance is the union affiliate that is seeking to represent IBM workers.