Talk:IBM and unions

Vandalism with Dates
There has been some vandalism in the dates, all of them are wrong, the first sentence is also contradictory and I think it was not in an earlier draft. Just wanted to give a heads up to any editor who might want to clean this up, don't have time to work on it myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.115.230.109 (talk • contribs)

GA nomination
Hi @Shushugah - I came acroess this in the GA nomination list and was thinking to review it. However, looking at the first review and current state, I'm concerned that it might not be up to GA status. There's a lot of information which seems a little dated and there's sourcing available not included. My main concern is that there's too much to be completed in a review. My suggestion is we work on it together and do a joint renomination? Here's some more sourcing that could be added:
 * James Cortada's "IBM The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon" (MIT Press 2019)
 * added source, probably more stuff to search/find


 * Bruce Robinson "PICKET LINES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD: LABOUR AND THE PRODUCTION OF (CYBER) SPACE" IADIS International Conference e-Society 2008
 * ✅ Used a more updated version available here


 * "IBM CEO requested to provide transparency and guarantees to IBMers" IndustriALL Europe 27 MAY 2021
 * T. Dickson et al "Big Blue and the Unions: IBM, Individualism and Trade Union Strategy" Work, Employment and Society Volume 2, Issue 4 Dec 1988 pp 420-566 (also at JSTOR )
 * added source, probably more stuff to search/find


 * "IBM rejects pure DC pension contracts in Germany, union says 22 August 2022
 * "Collective regulation of algorithmic managemnet" European Labour Law Journal - has details on the German IBM Works Councils agreement
 * ✅ The reference to IBM Works Agreement goes here and is included already


 * Restoring multi-employer bargaining in Europe: prospects and challenges ETUI (2018)
 * ❌ Very interesting data, but also very difficult to use. It suggests which countries where unions may exist, but nothing about specific bargaining coverage, union density, let alone names of worker organisations. ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 17:43, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi @Shushugah - this document has very useful data: delcining employment (shedding 15% of employment in 2014-16) (p.97), comparative labour management relationships with other ICT companies and MNEs in general (p.133) (sits around the average for ICT, but below the average for MNEs in general). Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 23:03, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I have included pages 133, 201 and 215-216. I could remove the mention about Electronics/Manufacturing since IBM is the top 5 largest employer only in Ireland, but for ICT sector...they're the top largest in 12 states so that qualifies this nicely. Their industrial relations in ranked in 11 states (Italy is not included for whatever reason). In general, the paper argues that CEE states have lower industrial relations specifically in private sector, so not surprising that IBM's lowest ranked states were in CEE as well. Added to ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 00:18, 25 January 2024 (UTC)


 * IBM unions agree new global strategy to fight job cuts IndustriAll 18 April 2014
 * Multinational tax integrity and enhanced tax transparency – PSI/ ITUC submission to public consultation 2 September 2022
 * Japan: First labour dispute involving IBM over AI-driven wage assessments continues for more than 18 months after IBM allegedly refuses to disclose information requested by union 30 December 2021
 * ✅ Found primary source claiming they existed since 1959. And added reference here.


 * China: Striking behaviour: Chinese workers discover a weapon against labour-market turmoil 29 March 2014
 * ✅ added


 * China: Shenzhen trade union seeks to help striking workers sacked by IBM China Labour Bulletin 13 March 2014
 * ✅ added


 * Hungary: Agreement between IBM and unions over plant closure 13 November 2002
 * see longer thoughts/comments below about Hungary sources ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 17:43, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Let me know your thoughts. Regards, Goldsztajn (talk) 00:00, 5 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Employer opposition and union avoidance in the UK Industrial Relations Journal 2002 - useful as characterises IBM as a non-union employer.


 * It would be an honor to collaborate and thank you for digging these sources! I should have access to all of these. Given the huge overflow of GAN it won’t affect status of a hypothetical review until the GA drive starts in February, but I can also delete it/rephrase it as a joint-nomination. I'll make this article a personal priority in January. ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 00:14, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

China
I have added what I could about the 10 day-wildcat strike. This is the most detailed info I found, it's a machine-translation from a Chinese language article, but unclear what/where. It doesn't lead to a conclusive result of what happened. In general, as far as I can find, IBM opened/expanded in China in 2002 with sale of the hard-disk drive business, with a partial stake in Chinese firm Lenovo. ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 15:11, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Hungary
In short, I could not find confirmation which trade union(s) have a collective agreement (if any) with IBM and am unsure how to go forward without committing WP:SYNTH or at best, a very vague/roundabout statement.

Most likely the union is Hungarian Metal (they also founded Vasas Sports Club) and are affiliated to MSzOSz and IndustriALL. Their internal website makes loose references to IBM but nothing more.

This paper mentions IBM in the context of industry/wages, but does not mention them when discussing union VASAS successes or challenges. .

This report (overlapping author as previous) qualifies VASAS as most important union in electronics sector and contextualises local trade union/works council structures. The second union (fewer sources mention them) is Federation of Chemical Workers of Hungary but no specific mention of IBM. This article mentions cases of Works Councils in Hungary, without union representation e.g Samsung, but again nothing about IBM.

The unnamed union is criticized as being corporate lapdog for IBM, and quickly agreeing/not fighting the relocation of jobs from Székesfehérvár to China.

Give me till the weekend and will come back to you. Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 23:05, 24 January 2024 (UTC)