14 June, 2011On IBM's 100th birthday, workers ask company to respect their rights.
GLOBAL: To mark IBM's 100th birthday, IBM union members produced a happy birthday video (www.imfmetal.org/IBMunions) in which they tell the company it should treat its workers better in its next century.
IBM unions from around the world have come together to form the IBM Global Union Alliance through the International Metalworkers' Federation, European Metalworkers' Federation and UNI Global Union to demand that the company respect worker and trade union rights wherever it operates.
On June 14, IBM unions across the world will be uniting in common action to call on the company to recognize the vital role played by IBMers in the company's success and to respect their rights as workers.
Despite its early history of valuing its workforce, IBM has more recently taken to systematically denying basic rights to its employees. Wherever it can, it fights the right of employees to choose to join a union. It has also denied employees in some countries pay rises that keep pace with increases in the cost of living.
Last year the global unions sent IBM CEO Sam Palmisano a letter alerting him to company management's violations of the labour code in Bulgaria when it threatened workers who tried to form a union and refused to recognize the union as it is legally obligated to do. The global unions asked him to intervene. To date no reply has been received.
Now the global unions have written to Sam Palmisano again, to remind him that working conditions at IBM vary greatly depending on where you are in the world. We are also asking him to meet with the global unions to discuss how to improve the company's performance on worker rights. While IBM is in the top league in many international rankings of its business, it ranks near the bottom of the list when it comes to working conditions. This must change as IBM enters its second century of operations.
This June 14, IBM employees and their unions celebrate the contribution made by employees to the company's success and call upon IBM to reciprocate by fully recognizing the basic rights of its workforce.