Iowa Governor Assures IT Workers Amidst Job Transition to Amazon and Cognizant

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds allays fears as state IT workers lose jobs owing to a shift to Amazon and Cognizant managing the IT solutions.

A major confusion was created after Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced that the state of Iowa will migrate its executive branch data from an outdated IT system to a modern system with Amazon Web Services and that the day-to-day IT operations will be managed by Cognizant Government Solutions. The government workers were notified on June 9 that their positions will be terminated, which created massive fear among them. But Reynold's office said that the laid-off workers will receive "individualized competitive job offers" from Cognizant later this month. “Part of the state’s negotiations with Cognizant Government Solutions was their guarantee to offer equal or better employment to the approximately 200 state employees who today provide the IT services that Cognizant Government Solutions will manage going forward," Reynolds said in a statement on June 10. "This ensures continuity and consistency for the IT workforce that serves state government and the state agencies who rely on them. " But the workers are in the dark as they have no clear idea about their prospective employment status. They just know that they may receive an offer of employment from Cognizant but they don't know what the nature of employment would be.

Layoff mail from department, explanation from Cognizant

The workers received a mail from their department that said: "Due to the reorganization, it is necessary for the Department of Management to reduce its number of employees. A layoff plan has been prepared and approved in accordance with the rules of the Department of Administrative Services." Then they received an email from Cognizant explaining the company's hiring process for the workers. The message included a timeline for when employees need to sign a contract agreeing to provide their employment information to the company if they want to receive an offer letter. The deadline for employees to sign the contract is Friday, June 12, just three days after they received their termination notice. Employees were told they would receive offer letters outlining a job description, salary and benefits between June 15 and June 25, with an August 4 start date. And they have until July 10 to accepy the offer.

No H-1B visa holders

Reynolds again issued a statement and said there will be no outsiders. "The state of Iowa and @Cognizant have been fully committed from the onset to employing an Iowa-based workforce throughout the duration of our engagement. At no point during our negotiations was it even considered to employ H-1B visa holders. The state’s daily IT operations will continue to be supported by Iowans, for Iowans, as they are now," she said.

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