We've heard about romances and businesses in Second Life. Now, a wage dispute between IBM (NYSE:IBM) and its Italian workers in the real world is spilling into the alternate online world.
Their union, Rappresentenza Sindacale Unitaria, in conjunction with Union Network International, is sponsoring the first-ever, they say, online strike, asking avatar workers around the world to go picket IBM's Second Life online presense. Read more about it here. (Pictured is IBM board chairman Samuel Palmisano's Second Life avatar.) Avatars are stand-ins for people in Second Life.
It's no surprise that the IBM workers have been innovative in their approach to labor relations. In the United States, IBM contractors formed Alliance@IBM to work through the thorny issues involved in the increasingly-gray zone between being an independent contractor (lots of work, no benefits) and an employee (lots of work, benefits).
Alliance@IBM eventually affiliated with the Communication Workers of America, which is helping to coordinate the Second Life strike in the United States. The Italian workers have circulated an email explaining how to join Second Life.
Here's the fun part -- IBM's corporate Web site home page poses a question: "Could Your Avatar Teach You To Become a Real Life Leader?"
Well, let's see how they do in resolving the Italian wage dispute.
