Cinemassively: Virtual strike of IBM by employees yields real results
Filed under: Real life, Video, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Second Life, Free-to-play, Cinemassively, Machinima
In September 2007, Second Life Insider blogged that Italian IBM workers were using Second Life to protest a proposed pay cut. Little was known about the strike at the time, except that those interested should download a strike kit and carry on peacefully on their own time. In a video released yesterday in multiple languages, they explain what went on, why they did it, and what the results were.
Read on for more details about the strike ...
During agreement discussions at IBM, the Italian Works Council asked for a €60 salary increase per employee. IBM responded by cancelling a union agreement, decreasing pay by €1000 annually. This affected 5,000+ employees.
In response to the pay cut, Italian IBM workers took to the internet, organizing a protest in SL. They created an international taskforce in one week's time. Then they spent 20 days and nights planning the peaceful strike.
They prepared strike kits in three languages and trained participants. They also arranged a meeting point for avatars to teleport over to IBM's sims. With only 24 hours notice of the strike, the protesters were ready.
Over 1800 employees and residents joined in on the strike. IBM shut down at least one of their sims in response. They were undeterred, though, and posted their results frequently on their protest blog.
In the end, the man responsible for the pay cut resigned, talks resumed, and the performance bonuses were granted. The protest even ended up being chosen as one of the 100 web initiatives of 2007. More importantly, they made a difference in both real life and Second Life.
To see more about the protest, please visit their IBM Strike History Museum in-world.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jiz said on 3:12PM 2-18-2008
Fantastic Moo Money, it ties in nicely with a conversation we are having over at Terranova.blogs.com... about SL and Sim Stability, i hope you don't mine, but i linked your article :)
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/02/organising-virt.html#more
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Moo Money said on 3:22PM 2-18-2008
I don't mind at all. :)
Jaymin Carthage said on 5:59PM 2-18-2008
Hmm. I think they crashed a few sims (even though their stated goal was not to grief). But no sims were shut down in response. You can't really shut down a sim unless you are Linden Labs, eh?
The "1800 employees and residents" number is highly questionable. It isn't confirmed by the metric collections done by Tateru's or me.
Lastly, there is no indication at all that the SL protest had any actual affect at all. Just because they achieved their goals in the talk doesn't mean that the SL protest had any contribution to them.
I know claiming the virtual strike made a difference grabs headlines. It's, ironically, seen as legitimizing Second Life. But in reality their use of Second Life to promote their cause is about as thin as the big companies that create a huge fancy sim, get on the cover of Business Week, and let it languish, empty. This is not a success for Second Life, this is a success for Second Life hype.
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TigroSpottystripes Katsu said on 11:27AM 2-19-2008
I wonder if they will get into trouble for using famous songs on the video...
(I'm very far from being an expert on copyright law and such, but I often read about big companies making loud noises when people use their stuff, legally or otherwise)
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