# IBM and unions

IBM is an American technology company that employs 300,000 people across 170 countries, primarily in the United States and India. IBM's low union density and limited union recognition is attributed to a corporate culture, that emphasizes highly individualized relationships between managers and their direct reports, and proactive avoidance of unions when managers become aware of union organizing activity.
Trade unions have limited recognition in Australia, Japan, Germany and Italy. There were strikes in China, Italy and Australia against corporate restructurings and for higher wages. In the United States, two (now defunct) initiatives, the IBM Black Workers Alliance and IBM Workers United, were formed in the 1970s to advocate for minority representation and pay transparency. Union affiliates coordinate internationally through the Global Union Alliance, together with their respective global union federations.
IBM is one of the largest ICT employers in the European Union (EU). Workers have established a European Works Council in 1999. IBM's level of union recognition in the EU is comparable to the industry average, along with Microsoft and SAP. However, even in the traditional union strongholds of Western Europe, IBM has been able to minimize union membership.$^{:60}$

## Industrial composition

Founded in 1911 as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Armonk, New York, IBM employs more than 300,000 people in 170 countries, primarily in the United States (where it is headquartered) and India.
IBM's non-union status is due in part to its corporate culture, which includes strong employee identification with the company and close relationships between managers and their direct reports. Rather than waiting for problems to arise, anonymous feedback from employees allows management to address grievances early on. When management becomes aware of unionization efforts, investigative teams are formed to discourage unions and explore alternatives.$^{:227}$

## Transnational

In 1999, IBM employees in the European Union (EU) formed a European Works Council. Global union federations UNI Global Union and International Metalworker's Federation formed the "Global Union Alliance" in 2011 to coordinate among their national union affiliates.
In a 2014 research study conducted by the European Trade Union Institute on transnational companies in 23 EU states; IBM was among the 5 largest employers in 12 states in the ICT sector.$^{:215–217}$ The study examined the level of industrial relations between IBM management and trade unions. On a scale of 0–5 where 0 is no union recognition exists and 5 is the highest form of union recognition, IBM subsidiaries in 11 different states ranked an average of 2.77, slightly above the ICT industry average of 2.64. This placed IBM ahead of competitors HP, Accenture, and Microsoft and behind Atos and SAP.$^{:133}$

## Australia

In 2002, after IBM Global Services Australia (GSA) and Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) failed to negotiate a common enterprise agreement for all 3,500 employees working on a Telstra contract (half of the employees were previously direct employees of Telstra and covered under a stronger agreement). Previously CPSU organized two 48 hour strike actions after announced plans to fire 64 IBM GSA employees.
In April 2010 the Fair Work Australia tribunal ordered IBM Australia to bargain with the Australian Service Union (ASU) representing employees in Baulkham Hills, Sydney in a mass layoff proceeding. IBM appealed unsuccessfully, claiming that ASU was ineligible to represent these employees. 80 employees accepted collectively negotiated contracts concerning severance packages and sick leave in case of future layoffs.

## China

Over 1,000 workers at the IBM Systems Technology Co. (ISTC) factory in Shenzhen went on a 10-day wildcat strike (without union support) between 3 and 12 March 2014, after management announced the transfer of the factory to Lenovo.
The strike was part of a larger trend of labor militancy in the Guangdong province. Workers demanded higher severance packages if they left and higher salaries if they transferred to Lenovo. Most of the participating strikers accepted the initial offer by management. 20 employees were fired, including worker representatives. While the Shenzhen branch of All-China Federation of Trade Unions did not support the initial strike, it filed legal claims to reinstate the 20 fired workers.

## Germany

IBM Germany has a group works council, which has concluded a group works agreement on the internal use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) has the principle of 'one trade union' per company, but in practice, its affiliates, ver.di (including its predecessors) and IG Metall have been competing since the early 1990s. They compete for seats in works council elections (also against non-union members) through their respective union members, and for collective bargaining coverage vis-à-vis collective agreements.$^{:323}$ In December 2001, ver.di and IG Metall agreed to form a joint bargaining committee to resolve their internal union competition.
In the absence of regional collective agreements or high union density in the workplace, the legal works council structures fill a gap on certain issues such as working time through works agreements. Company collective agreements [de] would provide a middle ground between regional union bargaining and the more formally regulated works council framework.$^{:181–182}$
In 1996, the union density at IBM Germany was less than 10% of the workforce, including membership of both trade unions IG Metall and German Salaried Employees' Union (DAG). IBM Germany was a member of the Metal Employer Association (Gesamtmetall [de]) which ratified regional collective agreements with IG Metall, that included the standard 35-hour work week [de]. In 1994, following corporate restructuring, five non-manufacturing subsidiaries of IBM Germany were created, none of which joined Gesamtmetall, effectively nullifying the collective agreements. In contrast, they signed company collective agreements with DAG union that were downgraded to a longer 38-hour work week.$^{:175}$

## Italy

In 2007, IBM announced they would cancel a performance bonus worth $1000 per employee. Shortly afterwards, on 27 September, the Italian trade union RSU [it] IBM Vimercate which represented 9,000 IBM Italy workers, coordinated a 'virtual strike' inside Second Life. Second Life is a simulation software that was used both internally by IBM for its employees and for marketing to external customers.
Between 500 and 1500 real-life IBM employees across the globe signed up to disrupt IBM virtual facilities in solidarity with the Italian trade union's collective agreement negotiations. Simultaneously, in real-life pickets were organized outside IBM Italy facilities. The virtual strike was supported by Union Network International.
One month later, on 24 October, the IBM Italy CEO resigned and the performance bonuses were reinstated, though the company claimed it was unrelated to the strikes.

## Japan

IBM Japan employees have been represented by Japan Metal Manufacturing, Information and Telecommunication Workers' Union (JMITU; Japanese: 日本アイビーエム支部) since 1959.
In 2019, the company rolled out internal HR software that used IBM's Watson artificial intelligence to advise on employee compensation. According to JMITU, for a June summer bonus, the software rated union members an average of 63% while other employees were rated 100%. The union lodged a legal complaint, alleging algorithmic discrimination.

## United States

In August 1970, the IBM Black Workers Alliance (BWA) was formed. It was the first high-tech movement for under represented minorities, to protest lack of equal pay and promote opportunities for young, poor communities.
Between 1978 and 1980 its membership grew five-fold to 1,700 people. In 1980, IBM fired four of the top eight BWA officers, including one for distributing salary pay-bands. BWA existed until the early 1990s and had chapters in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Hudson Valley, New York City, and Washington DC. They were not a union, nor trying to form one, but one member, Marceline Donaldson started organizing with the all Black Pullman Porters Union until she left IBM in 1979. In 1980, Donaldson filed a complaint with the NLRB and the EEOC alleging unfair labor practices and retaliation against Black employees joining the BWA chapter in Cincinnati.
In the 1970s, Lee Conrad founded the IBM Workers United (IBMWU) in Endicott, NY as an independent grassroots union. It had an underground newsletter called "Resistor"$^{:60}$ which highlighted IBM's sale of computers to apartheid South Africa, comparing them to IBM's sale of computers to the Nazis. In the 1970s, members of IBMWU distributed fliers at an IBM shareholder meeting titled "Would IBM have Sold Computers to Hitler?" protesting IBM's business with apartheid South Africa.
In 1999, IBMWU affiliated to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), rebranding itself as Alliance@IBM under CWA Local 1701, with Conrad as its lead coordinator. In 2016, Alliance@IBM shut down, citing low membership, outsourcing and union busting.