Browsing the UNI Communicators' Forum just today I came across a most curious story about Italian IBM workers planning a virtual strike!
The story, as far as I know, comes via Martin Banks at The Register.
The article - IBM faces Second Life strike - outlines (and ridicules) the proposed action as follows:
"Ever wanted to go on strike, be part of that feeling of solidarity on the picket line, but felt too cowardly to take the risk? September should see just the opportunity for you.
That is when Rappresentanza Sindacale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU), the official trade union representing IBM's 9,000 workers in Italy, is planning a most novel form of industrial action – a strike on Second Life – and it wants as many avatars as possible manning the picket lines.
Details of what form the industrial action will take in this virtual world are scant at the moment, except that a Union spokesman has hinted that they are hoping Second Life avatars from around the world will participate."
I've no further news on the subject, but it is certainly adds a new dimension to the many forms industrial conflict can take.
Comments on the article vary somewhat from the supportive to those who liken such action to a "one-day bitch session".
One thing is for sure, new Web 2.0 communication is certainly creating new opportunities for working people to get back and bargain in some way with their employers.
The story, as far as I know, comes via Martin Banks at The Register.
The article - IBM faces Second Life strike - outlines (and ridicules) the proposed action as follows:
"Ever wanted to go on strike, be part of that feeling of solidarity on the picket line, but felt too cowardly to take the risk? September should see just the opportunity for you.
That is when Rappresentanza Sindacale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU), the official trade union representing IBM's 9,000 workers in Italy, is planning a most novel form of industrial action – a strike on Second Life – and it wants as many avatars as possible manning the picket lines.
Details of what form the industrial action will take in this virtual world are scant at the moment, except that a Union spokesman has hinted that they are hoping Second Life avatars from around the world will participate."
I've no further news on the subject, but it is certainly adds a new dimension to the many forms industrial conflict can take.
Comments on the article vary somewhat from the supportive to those who liken such action to a "one-day bitch session".
One thing is for sure, new Web 2.0 communication is certainly creating new opportunities for working people to get back and bargain in some way with their employers.
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