This Day in History: IBM layoffs at Essex Junction plant

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (WCAX) – There were major layoffs at IBM in Essex Junction on this day in history in 2002.

“We’ve been here all morning long talking to people as they come in,” reported WCAX’s Kristin Kelly on June 4 that year.

She broke the story of “Black Tuesday,” as it was known at the time. “They’re concerned about the rumors just like everybody else. And we’re taking calls in our newsroom who have said they have been laid off,” Kelly reported.

A thousand jobs were cut that day, on top of 500 six months earlier. Another 500 were cut the following year as part of a long decline for IBM in Vermont that ended with the 2015 sale of the plant to GlobalFoundries.