IBM staff move pay protest to Second Life

Sydney Morning Herald

UNREAL: IBM employees in Italy will hold a protest in the virtual world of Second Life over a pay dispute.

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Disgruntled IBM workers in Italy are planning to stage a "strike" inside the Second Life virtual world, targeting facilities run by their employer.

The unusual protest is due to be staged later this month, although organisers are not saying exactly when the demonstrations will take place - hoping to catch IBM off guard and to milk the resulting publicity.

IBM owns about 50 virtual facilities in Second Life which it uses for research, induction of new employees, and meetings. About 5000 of its employees work or operate in a number of virtual worlds including Second Life.

The company recently expanded its virtual Business Centre in Second Life, recruiting staff in its Australian and Asian operations to help run the sales and support facility.

The dispute stems from recent negotiations to renew IBM's Italian internal collective agreement.

Rappresentanza Sindacale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU), the official trade union representing IBM's 9000 workers in Italy, had asked for what was described as a small salary increase.

The union says IBM responded by cancelling the workers' "productive results benefit" - a decision that the union says was an effective pay cut of ?1000 ($NZ1951) a year.

About 500 IBM employees from 18 countries - including Australia - had signed up to help stage the protest, which will be conducted via the strikers' avatars, or online personas, said Davide Barillari, a staff representative and member of an IBM technical support team from Vimercate in northern Italy.

Barillari, whose avatar's name is Barillo Kohnke, said the strikers would split into cells, each with different objectives.

He said that, while it was the protesters' intention to stage peaceful demonstrations at each of the IBM facilities in Second Life, they would also be appearing in other public areas of the virtual world - just in case IBM effected a virtual lock out.

"We are expecting some very bad reaction from IBM," Barillari said in an interview conducted in Second Life. "I'm sure they will try to do something to limit our demonstration."

The campaign is being supported by the Swiss-based Union Network International (UNI), a global umbrella group representing 900 affiliated unions and 15 million workers in the skills and services sector.

An information booth has been set up inside Second Life where volunteers can equip their avatars with protest T-shirts, such as "IBM is deaf to its employees' demands", and placards in four languages sporting slogans such as "IBM. We deserve our performance bonus agreement!"

A spokeswoman for IBM Australia declined to comment on the impending industrial action saying IBM had a policy of not discussing internal staffing details.

She said that IBM was committed to investing in competitive pay that reflected business performance and individual contributions.

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