IWIS Conference

PARIS, 25-27 June 2007

Status for : USA

Country environment

• Country laws National Labor Relations Act: Right to organize 1935. Department of

Labor regulates working hours, minimum wage, child labor , Family Medical Leave Act for pregnant women and families.

All pro-labor legislation and rules under attack by Bush Administration.

• Freedom of speech Bill of Rights protects citizens but does not apply to the

workplace. IBM is an “at will employer”. Employee can be terminated without just cause except in cases involving Government defined discrimination and Union contract. Employees who speak up in non-union companies face risk of job loss or other retribution.

• Health protection No national health care system. Employees when terminated in

Resource Action receive limited but expense coverage. IBM seems to be terminating employees with health problems. Retirees facing difficulty in paying for health coverage.

• Retirement For Federal Social Security it is age 62 (minimum). Social Security and

Retirement pension is transferrable to spouse. All retirement systems (national Social Security and employer pensions under pressure from Government and employers)

• Work time 40 hours per week but overtime pay is not paid to many professions (exempt).

No guaranteed vacation (up to employer). While there are 11 Government recognized holidays, employers do not have to give their employees time off. It is at their discretion.

Company environment

• Country-wide agreements with trade unions (for each sector of activity) : NONE

• Enterprise-wide agreements with trade unions• Are negotiations really productive?• Are laws really applied?• Is there any trade unions regulations:

protection for trade-union workers representatives, time reserved for trade-union activities, trade union work councils representing workers at different levels in the company (site, enterprise, group, inter country work councils) etc. :

Limited protection for Union organizers and employees involved in organizing.

Employees 1990-2007

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

IBM Subsidiary > 50%Subsidiary 50-50 (J.Venture) Subsidiary < 50%Subcontractor

Activities 2007

100%

0%0%0%0%

Sales Development ManufacturingMaintenance Services

Backup charts

IBM USA Employment Data 2006

Officials/Mgrs: 17,363

Professionals: 55,742

Technicians: 10,349

Marketing: 42,133

Office/Clerical: 5,409

Craft Workers: 1,193

Operatives: 1,784

Total:133,973

Activities 1990-2007

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

19

90

19

91

19

92

19

93

19

94

19

95

19

96

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

Sales Development Manufacturing Maintenance Services