BGR exclusively confirmed late last week that Research In Motion (RIMM) would begin laying off 3,000 workers, and this latest round of reductions indeed began this past Monday. The Canadian Press now reports that RIM’s Halifax office is the latest facility to be hit. Citing statements made by Nova Scotia’s economic development minister, the news organization says that nearly a quarter of RIM’s 400 staffers in Halifax have been laid off. The minister claims that the cuts are temporary, though he didn’t elaborate, and RIM confirmed to the Canadian Press that the reductions are part of the 5,000 jobs RIM plans to cut by the end of 2012.
UPDATE: BGR has learned that figures reported by Canadian Press are not accurate. We have learned that the number of workers being let go from RIM’s Halifax facility may in fact be slightly lower than the 95 employees Nova Scotia’s economic development minister Percy Paris said were being laid off. Canadian Press’s claim that nearly a quarter of RIM’s Halifax-based staff would be let go is also inaccurate — the vendor’s Halifax staff totaled approximately 550 employees before this round of reductions hit, not 400 as stated in the initial report.
