IBM Tech Workers Consider Union OptionIBM Tech Workers Consider Union Option

In the wake of reports that it may move thousands of programming and support jobs overseas, IBM faces a backlash from its U.S. workers that could lead to unionization of the company's IT workforce.

About 50 IBM technology workers gathered in San Jose, Calif., last week to discuss union certification. That's a miniscule percentage of the company's 135,000-member domestic workforce, but the effort may be gathering steam. This week, employees will hold organizational meetings in Poughkeepsie and Endicott, N.Y., Burlington, Vt., and several other locations. "There's an unmistakable groundswell going on here," claims Lee Conrad, an organizer at Alliance@IBM, an IBM workers' group that says it has 5,000 members and receives support from Communications Workers of America, Local 1701.

Pro-union sentiments at IBM received fresh impetus last week when, in meetings captured on tapes leaked to the New York Times and information, company executives are heard planning a potentially significant shift of jobs from the United States to India. Labor unrest at IBM and other IT companies has been growing as they send more work to low-wage offshore countries such as India while eliminating jobs at home.

IBM's biggest IT services competitors--EDS and Hewlett-Packard--are based in Texas, a right-to-work state, and California, where unions are relatively weak. New York, where IBM is based, has a strong tradition of labor activism. "If a union moves into IBM, they'll have a lot less flexibility than the competition" to move jobs abroad, says Rob Enderle, a Forrester Research analyst and former IBM employee.

On the tape, IBM global employee relations director Tom Lynch alludes to research that indicates thousands of IT jobs will move overseas in the years ahead. "Our competitors are doing it, and we have to do it," Lynch says. An IBM spokesman would not comment on the tape, which was recorded in March, or confirm its authenticity. "We move or create resources wherever they will most benefit our customers, including in the United States," the spokesman says.

Many companies are reluctant to give details on offshore-outsourcing plans, because of concerns about employee backlash (see story, Taboo). On the tape, Lynch acknowledges that shifting work overseas may stir union sentiments and advises colleagues to monitor the situation.

There may also be political fallout. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., has asked the General Accounting Office to study offshore outsourcing and its effect on the U.S. economy.

IBM says it has increased the size of its U.S. workforce during the past five years and will do so again in 2003. From 1997 to 2002, the company's domestic workforce grew from 132,000 to 135,000. But its foreign workforce grew from 137,465 to 160,600 during the same period, according to IBM's figures. Microsoft said last week it may create up to 3,500 new jobs in the United States even as it prepares to move thousands of support jobs overseas.

Still, the expected net loss of IT jobs to offshore workers could boost efforts to unionize tech workers. Says Enderle, "The workers are facing too much downsizing at a time when executives are viewed as royalty in terms of their compensation and perks."