September 07, 2007

Italian IBM employees on strike on Second Life

Posted at 15:30 | | 3 Comments

IBM workers will go on strike in Second Life this September. All union supporters are asked to join them online. I believe this is the first real strike demonstrating in Second Life and really I think it is a great idea. Not Second Life specifically but generally online: no doubt the influence and impact of a virtual strike can be as important as a street demonstration and it does not take anybody as hostages. Being french I know what it means when people cannot take a flight or go to their office because of unions blocking everything. So long live virtual strikes, I hope they will totally replace real strikes as soon as possible. I wonder why it's a spanish flag on the page picture though. Thanks, Christine.

Ibm Employees-1

I'm working in IBM France, and sometimes using Second Life...Loic the true question is : how the hell is it possible that Italian workers had this idea before French ones...??
I've asked that to a CGT (French union) affiliated guy, he doesn't know neither...
And you're right, let the strike stay virtual ones ! :-)

ITMN, September 07, 2007 at 16:35

Hi Loïc, thanks for posting this on your blog. Please come and get a strike kit at our house in SL! We'd be happy to have you with us :-) as for the Spanish flag, well, what can I say, they were the quickest to translate the webpage. Now it's available in FRENCH (oh oui!) and in Italian of course.
Encore merci, Xine

Christine, September 13, 2007 at 13:20

Breakthrough at IBM Italy

One month after a virtual protest staged in Second Life with almost 2’000 avatars demonstrating on IBM islands, a new contract with IBM Italy has been signed.

The new agreement, which still needs to be approved by the IBM Italy workforce, reinstates the performance bonus that was cut unilaterally by IBM Italy management.

The agreement signed by IBM Italy and the trade union Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie (R.S.U.) not only includes the performance bonuses from 2007 up until 2010 but also payments by IBM into a national health insurance fund and also states that negotiations will continue with respect to IBM industrial and business strategies in Italy and the improvement of internal communication policies.

The situation abruptly improved and negotiation resumed after the former country manager left IBM in the mid of October, who had signed responsible for the pay cuts in the first place. His departure cleared the air and facilitated constructive negotiations between social partners as this could be expected from a professional management of a high-tech company.

The virtual demonstration organized on 27 September for a whole day has certainly had an impact on the positive development. Almost 2’000 virtual protestors from 30 countries populating IBM premises in Second Life solicited an unprecedented media echo from all over the world, including TV and radio stations, daily news papers, computer and business magazines. The virtual protest had been supported by global unions such as the International and European Metalworkers Federations (IMF and EMF) and UNI Global Union.

The threat of strike action in the “real world” by the Italian unions after the virtual protest has certainly also helped to break the deadlock. Yet, the impact of this historical action in Second Life must not be underestimated.

Barillo Kohnke, November 09, 2007 at 17:19

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Welcome to my blog. Based in San Francisco, I am an entrepreneur and a blogger. I just started my fifth startup, Seesmic, a community driven video social software. Here is what TechCrunch says about it.

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