RE: IBM Workers in Europe May Strike over Offshoring

["Kevin Gallaway" <kevin_gallaway@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

  How nice. Won't work, though. Bottom line is all that matters. Except, of
  course, that the actual cost of offshoring isn't always obvious.

  >From: "Steve Landess" <sjl_abc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  >To: <CPF0000@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, <midrange-jobs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  >CC: Norm Matloff <matloff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,        AdminZaZona
  <Admin@xxxxxxxxxx>
  >Subject: IBM Workers in Europe May Strike over Offshoring
  >Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 13:32:04 -0500
  >
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  >http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=161502292
  >
  >IBM Workers In Europe May Strike Over Offshoring
  >April 25, 2005
  >
  >Shareholders at IBM's annual meeting this week will vote on an
  >anti-offshoring resolution.
  >By Paul McDougall
  >InformationWeek
  >
  >IBM workers in Europe may strike this week over what they say is the
  >company's ongoing movement of jobs to low-cost countries such as
  >India and China, according to union sources. Meanwhile, a U.S.
  >employee group is asking IBM stock owners to vote on an
  >anti-offshoring resolution at the company's annual meeting Tuesday.
  >
  >Trade unions representing IBM workers in Germany have called for
  >protests at IBM locations countrywide on Tuesday. Employee groups at
  >IBM France have voted to strike at facilities in Toulouse and
  >Marseille on Wednesday. IBM workers are unionized in parts of Europe
  >but not in the United States, though some U.S. workers belong to a
  >loosely knit employee association.
  >
  >IBM union leaders in Europe blame recent layoffs and facility
  >closings on the company's shifting of jobs to low-cost countries in
  >Asia and Eastern Europe. In an E-mail distributed over the weekend
  >to IBM's European workers, union officials outlined their position
  >succinctly: "Our main slogans are no offshoring, no layoffs!" IBM
  >employs about 100,000 workers in Europe. The company recently said
  >it might close German offices in Hannover and Schweinfurt.
  >
  >An IBM spokesman in France says he's unaware of the impending job
  >actions, but adds he doesn't expect any disruptions to customer
  >service or other IBM operations. "We would expect any labor action
  >to be held responsibly," he says.
  >
  >Meanwhile, the offshoring controversy is hitting IBM closer to home.
  >Members of a U.S.-based employee group have succeeded in placing
  >several pro-labor resolutions on IBM shareholder ballots. One
  >resolution requests that IBM's board of directors establish an
  >independent committee to study the effects of offshoring on the
  >company's "brand name and reputation." Another resolution calls for
  >"an end to age discrimination in retirement policies." Stockholders
  >will vote on the resolutions Tuesday in Charleston, S.C., at IBM's
  >annual meeting.
  >
  >Rick White, a staffer at Alliance At IBM, which is affiliated with
  >the Communications Workers of America, says he doesn't think the
  >offshoring resolution will pass, "but we nonetheless want to raise
  >public awareness of this issue."
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