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Antiwork

IBM and the Fear of Unions

When I started working at the IBM Data Center in 1969 it was located in downtown Toronto but a year and a half later it moved to the northeast of the city. A couple of years after that they announced that a large group of the staff was going to be moving back downtown. Many of my friends were young family people who had bought houses just north of the city which was much cheaper than within city limits. This was going to be a massive change in their commute time. A group of 10 people got together and jointly signed a complaint about the move. IBM reacted quickly and sent HR people from company HQ to interview everyone who had signed. They were all given raises and promotions and transfers to keep them happy. The fear of unionizing was a great incentive to break up this group. I am…


When I started working at the IBM Data Center in 1969 it was located in downtown Toronto but a year and a half later it moved to the northeast of the city. A couple of years after that they announced that a large group of the staff was going to be moving back downtown. Many of my friends were young family people who had bought houses just north of the city which was much cheaper than within city limits. This was going to be a massive change in their commute time. A group of 10 people got together and jointly signed a complaint about the move. IBM reacted quickly and sent HR people from company HQ to interview everyone who had signed. They were all given raises and promotions and transfers to keep them happy. The fear of unionizing was a great incentive to break up this group. I am not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing?

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