IBM Fukuda Factory strike: Unilateral terms questioned by employees

[Guide] After the strike, IBM did not directly contact the employees. Even with cut off power, drinking water and other tricks disguised as obstruction of staff rights. This reveals that in China, foreign companies because of the lack of trade union system or dereliction of duty, often lead to violent labor disputes. IBM Fukuda Factory strike: Unilateral terms were questioned by employees Tencent Technology Liang Louboutin Pool March 10 reported last Saturday, the Shenzhen Futian bonded Area Peach Road 30th, IBM System Integration (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "IBM STC") door and plant still gathered hundreds of employees. The atmosphere is calm, the staff or several people around, or sat down to talk. The two loudspeakers, which were guarded by a special person, repeatedly played the persuasion of a female voice, calling on employees to return to work, otherwise they would be punished accordingly. This is the 6th day of the employees ' rights of the IBM Shenzhen factory. The strike, which began on March 3, did not affect the normal living order of the factory, although the accusation of "IBM Overlord clause, and my youth" on the white background on the outer wall seemed sensational, but hundreds of of employees were on a lazy strike on the lawn outside the factory, 500 other temporary workers continue to work in the factory. For the cause of the strike, Ding MoU, one of the organizers of the campaign, told Tencent that it was because IBM sold the company to Lenovo, not fully consulted staff, and tough, so that the vast majority of staff for the fate of the future uneasy, and was understood by some employees as a disguised redundancy. Some staff members said that, in addition to staff comments are not respected, there are also some employees want to know the commitment of the management of "staff's wages and benefits and working conditions will be consistent with the existing level", whether it is based on the growth of work time, but did not receive a reply. This is January 30 Lenovo announced the acquisition of IBMx86 server business after an episode, the current merger is still waiting for the relevant departments to approve, it will take about six months to complete. Lenovo's stance on the matter was clear: the incident belonged to IBM's internal affairs and Lenovo did not comment. The strike has much in common with the big strike by Microsoft at the end of 2013, where a professional activist lawyer told Tencent technology that the problem of labor disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions in private enterprises is becoming more and more common, and that similar events will only increase as foreign companies become more difficult to survive. At present, government departments lack reasonable and effective means of intervention. The entire campaign has been ongoing for 7 days, the IBM strike staff has not yet been able to communicate with the IBM factory, Tencent Technology in the early morning to the IBM Department of Marketing staff to inquire about the relevant progress, but as of the press time, still failed to get a reply. The factory's unilateral terms were questioned by employees Tencent Technology has visited a number of grassroots workers involved in rights, and they generally say that in the face of the forthcoming comprehensive acquisition, the IBM STC solution has not been negotiated with staff representatives, but to allow them to choose one of the limited options. IBM STC is understood to be part of the Lenovo acquisition x86 business, and Lenovo's merger is completed this year. As a result, IBM has offered two options for its employees, namely, to extend their existing seniority to Lenovo or to settle their seniority before Lenovo's merger, but ultimately employees will transition to Lenovo, while IBM is committed to "the employee's wages and benefits and working conditions will be consistent with the current level". In this respect, in charge of x86 product materials, has 4 years of service of Luo MoU told Tencent Technology, the staff of the project has three main questions: first, the process of programming, staff or staff representatives are not involved; Secondly, employees who are still in the contract period can only choose from existing conditions, Instead of being able to choose to remain at IBM's other factories, the third is a cursory mention of "consistency with the current level" and no further explanation. In addition, a party surnamed technical staff told Tencent technology, he is most worried about the same salary, but the length of Labor will change because of the company. In fact, this is the remaining option after March 7 for employees. Before 7th this month, the company also has a plan, that is, employees choose to leave can obtain N compensation and 6000 yuan compensation. But only a few have opted for it, Ding said, who are almost all new employees in the factory for less than 1 years. An employee who doubted the adjustment as a "disguised redundancy" told Tencent that, in January, IBM had released a majority of its labor contracts with employees of the P-series server production line through "intent to leave" because IBM had announced that its P-series server production had shifted to Singapore. Other employees who were not released were adjusted to the production line on the four-storey S-series servers located in the same plant. In the two days after the adjustment, IBM announced Lenovo's acquisition of its x86 series of businesses, which once again faced the choice. Factory senior camouflage ordinary staff to participate in the interview process, Tencent Technology has not been approved to see the senior leadership of the IBM STC, according to employees, the acquisition news announced the day, the company has announced to employees that there will be a proper solution, but the specific solution until March 3 Caifi batch to staff meeting announced, But the decision was announced by a deputy general manager of the company called Eve. Most employees said that it was not clear who Eve was, nor had any communication, "I do not know what she is specifically responsible for, usually do not work in the factory, only in the meeting time to come," and after this, the company's senior staff did not once again direct dialogue with grass-roots employees. Tencent Technology learned that the deputy general manager of the day-to-day office in Shenzhen Science and Technology Park. The strikers were dissatisfied with the direct announcement and wanted to communicate directly with the company's legal representative. Ding MoU told Tencent Technology, they have asked the company's legal representative to come forward, but given its work at IBM headquarters in Beijing, it has also made a request can be held with the legal representative of the delegation of authority to communicate. However, the IBM STC high-level has never shown the relevant proof, nor has the relevant person to the scene. And let the conflict between labor and management more intensified is the company's top executives in direct notification of the behavior after the strike: the afternoon of March 3, the IBM STC high level in the read out the notice andAfter the workers ' strike, they offered to accept the staff to send a representative to negotiate. But at the same time, the IBM STC, by sending text messages to employees and family members, told employees that if they continued to sit quietly, they would be considered miners and the company would be entitled to punish or even terminate the labor contract. In addition, staff reflect that the company has been through the installation of cameras, hiring outside intimidation, the withdrawal of sedentary chair, cut off power and drinking water supply and other ways to obstruct staff rights. On the other hand, during the day of March 7, the company told employees that it would arrange belated negotiations, but it was not until 5:30 P.M. on the day that the strikers left the company to set up a simple advisory desk on the basketball inside the door. Instead of the workers involved in the negotiations, they put on employees ' clothes and fake employees to "negotiate", during which the security department patrolled the basketball court for four weeks, prohibiting the strike staff from participating. This "forged negotiation" is the result of the company's high-level self-directed performance. The employee offered the video he had taken to Tencent technology, and pointed out that it included senior manager feeling Wang, S series server (one of the sales of the business), the line manager Steven Chiang, and the Quality Supervision Department and other leaders. Tencent Science and technology in the shooting staff of the relevant video found that there are indeed several people dressed in yellow uniforms in the playground to participate in the negotiations, but because of the distance, the faces of people are difficult to identify. Luo and other employees to Tencent technology, the general Staff of the uniform is blue, only grass-roots managers wear yellow uniforms. The Chinese dilemma for the declining giants is that IBM has launched a new round of global layoffs earlier this year, according to foreign media reports. The program, called the Apollo program, involved 13,000 employees, about 3% of the world's total workforce, with a capital of $1 billion trillion. Europe and India became the first markets to suffer. In addition, in 2013, IBM also implemented a "Phoenix" redundancy plan. It can be said that the decline of IBM is the underlying cause of Lenovo mergers and acquisitions is the direct cause of labor disputes at IBM Futian factory. In fact, the same problem is not the only IBM, at the end of 2013, because of Microsoft mergers and acquisitions Nokia, Nokia Dongguan factory also appeared similar strike incident. Chi Yi, a prominent activist lawyer, said at the time that Nokia had not been sufficiently transparent in its acquisition process to communicate with workers at its manufacturing plant, and that it had failed to take into account the interests of workers, the main cause of the strike. Apparently, the issue was revealed again after the IBM strike, and Wang Jiangsong, a professor at the Chinese Institute of Labor Relations, sees that mergers and acquisitions by countries are not just the integration of capital, equipment, technology and management, but also the integration of labor resources, in China, because of the absence or negligence of the trade union system, Often lead to violent labor disputes. In recent years, the collapse of former Giants is not news, how to protect the interests of ordinary workers in the process will be China's "world factory" need to face the new problem, waiting for the answer is not only still outside the IBM STC factories strike staff.