Problems at Lionbridge Again

Workers at Lionbridge are restless again as the company announced that it would be firing hundreds of workers and consolidating some offices. Despite attempts to bust the union at the Polish office, it is still present in the Warsaw office. Members of ZSP are monitoring the situation. Read more!

Lionbridge Case: Report, Case Study

The Lionbridge Case is apparently being used as an example case study in corporate training these days. It was interesting from the legal point of it.

It is also mentioned in ITUC's annual Report of Violation of Trade Union Rights. A copy of the report is available here:

http://pracownik.net.pl/annual_report_of_violation_of_trade_union_rights_poland_2009 Read more!

Lionbridge Case Comes to an End – but the Struggle Continues

The Lionbridge case was moving extraordinarily slow throw the court. At the same time, many have left the company due to worsening conditions and a bad feeling: despite the company’s efforts to put out an effusive amount of PR, the stock value has plummeted to about one US dollar, the firm wants to close down European offices and is sending more and more work to places like China and India. Given a number of factors: new employment, the prospect of a long and expensive case with appeals and no guarantee that the office will even exist by time he is reinstated, plus the really crappy and sleazy actions of the boss, our comrade decided that fighting for reinstatement to the company, although something he wanted to do for the principle, was not going to be the quickest or most efficient way to improve labor conditions there. The case was settled, but our comrade is in touch with workers and professional organizations in several countries who are monitoring the situation and taking action. In particular, action is being taken to pressure the company to stop late payments made to freelance translators and others.

Some workers have also contacted us from far-afield; it seems that Lionbridge is contracted to do internet assessment for firms like Google and hires lots of students from all over the world to “make money at home on the internet”. These people are being encouraged to use the internet to put pressure on the company to pay people on time and to be more honest in their job offers.

Hopefully there will be good news to report shortly. Read more!

Lionbridge Case

The Lionbridge case is still going on. In the most recent court case, the company admitted that it had not checked information given to it concerning their claims for dismissing unionist Jakub G. The company accused him of stealing and leaking confidential information. The company admitted im court that it did not check evidence which proved the information in question was not confidential and that they considered it "irrelevant". Nor did they read the e-mails they claim that Jakub sent from work which they claimed contained confidential information. Clearly if they didn't even check these things, the company was fulling aware that this reason for dismissal was complete bullshit and nothing but a pretext for firing the unionist.

If they didn't check the information supplied to them which proved Jakub's innocence, what did they check? In court the HR director testified how she "googled" Jakub's name and found information about his political activity. Apparently this information, which is totally irrelevant to the former employee's work and to the case, was more relevant to the company than the facts and even the law. Read more!

Lionbridge Solidarity Actions

The first week of July saw the beginning of international solidarity actions with Jakub G., a union activist unfairly dismissed from the Warsaw office of Lionbridge Poland.

On June 30, activists from Priama Akcia in Slovakia visited the local office in Zilina. Leaflets were given out and a toy lion was left for the management. In a rather grotesque turn of events, the manager of the Polish and Slovakian offices, Jacek Stryczynski, claimed that the lion was something like a death threat and made a very ridiculous and paranoid representation of the event in one of a string of e-mails sent to frighten and promote division amongst employees.

On July 1, a picket was held in Brussels. Leaflets were given out and people spoke to the workers at the office. In Paris the next morning, members of CNT-AIT got a more harsh reception from security but still managed to hand out leaflets to the employees. In Lisbon, the offices of Lionbridge got some information posters about the case.

On July 4, pickets took place in Dublin, Copenhagen and in Madrid. In each case, leaflets were given out to employees and passersby.

July 4 marked the beginning of Jakub’s case in the Labour Court. The management of Lionbridge presented no evidence to support their false claim that he was fired for stealing confidential information which was supposedly leaked in an article. When asked which information was confidential, the lawyers claimed that the revenue of the firm was confidential information. Of course this is total bullshit: Lionbridge is a publically listed company and information about it’s revenue is published in its annual report and is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since Lionbridge’s arguments are bogus and they have no evidence to support their fabricated claims, they tried to submit an interview with Jakub made after his dismissal as evidence of his hostility towards the company but this could not constitute grounds for dismissal and naturally was not allowed. The company thus tried to stall and postpone, citing the lack of some original English-language version of an article.

Some time after the court session, there was a picket in front of the Warsaw office of the company. Due to a torrential storm, the crowd was smaller than anticipated, but still about 40 people stood there is the pouring rain. The company turned the office into a bit of a fortress; 4 vans of riot police were waiting there and police and corporate security were filming from many points in the building. Following a string of scary e-mails implying that the job security of all the workers was threatened and warning that “the protest was taking place during working hours”, few people dared venture out of the building until after the picket had ended.

In the meanwhile, Lionbridge employees and freelancers from around the world have sent their best wishes.

ZSP AND JAKUB WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CAMPAIGN!!! OUR SOLIDARITY WILL BEAT THE BOSSES!

Background of the case

In December 2007, workers in the Polish office of Lionbridge - a multinational translation company - created a trade union based on non-hierarchical principles – KFP. On Feb. 12, 2008, Jakub G., a workplace union representative in Lionbridge Poland, was dismissed on disciplinary grounds. The dismissal came shortly after the announcement to management that a union had been formed in the workplace and despite the fact that Jakub was protected by Polish Labor Law as an elected union representative.

Jakub was warned by members of the management that having a union would make the company “less competitive”. The reason given for Jakub’s dismissal was “damaging the company’s image” by writing an article which was published on the Internet. No proof of that allegation was given, and in fact another person has admitted to writing the article. The article in question was in fact based entirely on information publicly available on the internet.

Incidents of firing union members in disregard of the law are fairly common in Poland, including firing protected union officials. Most often summary dismissals are given shortly after the creation of a union.

Jakub has filed a court case against Lionbridge at the Polish Labour Court. The next court hearing will take place on August 13th.

www.lionbridge.zsp.net.pl Read more!

Report on the picket of Lionbridge in Dublin

Anarchists, trade unionists and social justice activists placed a placed a lunchtime picket on the offices of Lionbride in Dun Laoghaire on Friday the 4th of July as part of an International Week of Solidarity with Jakub G, a longstanding Polish Lionbridge employe who was fired for encouraging fellow workers to join a union to protect their pay and conditions in Lionbridge's Warsaw office.

Despite the fact that workers had been warned not to speak to the 'dangerous anarchists' by Lionbridge management the picket in Dun Laoghaire was a good natured affair with about 20 activists distributing more than 100 leaflets to workers leaving or returning to work on their lunchbreak. Before we finished up Damian Moran of the Pitstop Ploughshares spoke about some of the labour and other struggles recently engaged in in Poland.

Meanwhile the case taken by Jakub against Lionbridge in the Polish Labour Court also started on Friday. Lionbridge claim to have dismissed Jakub for publishing an article online which leaked “confidential company information”. No proof of that allegation was given, and in fact another person has admitted to writing the article. The article in question was in fact based entirely on information publicly available on the internet. Lionbridge claim they can prove Jakub wrote the piece yet yesterday asked that the case be postponed until August so that they could prepare their evidence. (see here for a full account of what went on in court: )

We're confident that Jakub will win his case and he will continue to have our support to ensure that he does so.

The text of WSM leaflet distributed at Lionbridge in Dublin after sacking of worker in Poland can be found at http://www.wsm.ie/story/4143 . If you want to distribute copies of this leaflet the PDF file of it is at http://www.wsm.ie/attachments/jul2008/lionbridge_leafle...7.pdf

From WSM webpage. Read more!

Unionists Protest Lionbridge the Cowardly Lion

About court case and protest

Lionbridge stalls the court and tries to defend its actions as the case gets more political.

On July 4, proceedings started in the Warsaw Labour Court in the case of Jakub G against Lionbridge Technologies. Jakub was fired in February 2008, shortly after becoming a representative of a newly-formed union in the Warsaw branch of that company.

No Arguments in Court

Lionbridge was represented by not one, but two high-priced lawyers from the Warsaw office of a well-known international law firm. The courtroom was full with observers from no less than three trade unions, some left political groups, four mainstream newspapers, the independent media and Jakub's friends and supporters. Lionbridge claims that Jakub published an article on the internet using confidential information, that he used the company e-mail to transfer confidental data and that he acted to the detriment of the company.

Jakub prepared all the evidence to prove that the allegations were false and it was already submitted to the court. This included many source documents that had to be translated and notarized. Instead of dealing with these documents, which had been used by the company as the basis for their dismissal (the court documents referred to the article written on the Polish internet site "CIA"), the lawyers tried to submit an interview with Jakub made by the Slovakian group Priama Akcia as evidence of Jakub's "disloyalty to the company". The court, naturally, would not admit this evidence as the interview was made after Jakub was already out of the company and could not constitute grounds for dismissal.

The lawyers also claimed that the alleged confidential information was leaked not in the Polish version of the text, but in the English one and that Jakub was especially trying to withhold copies of the English versions of the text. This was quite amazing since both the dismissal letter and the court documents referred to the Polish version of the text and the only reason that everything was submitted in Polish certified translation was because that is the official language of the court and documents, as a rule, should be submitted that way. The head of Lionbridge told the court that he had to go on vacation and asked for the next hearing to be postponed one month.

False Claim with No Chance

The lawyers also made quite an interesting claim that the alleged "confidential information" which was leaked was information concerning the company's revenue. They claimed that this type of information is "stricly confidential, was never published anywhere and was known only to Lionbridge employees". This was the only "proof" of leaking confidential information offered in the court.

It is hard to judge whether the lawyers could be so astoundingly incompetent that they failed to check this or whether this was just a shameless attempt to introduce false arguments in the case solely to buy time. Information concerning the revenue of large public listed companies is generally public, especially in the United States where financial reports of companies with more than a certain level of assests and shareholders must be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a 10-K form. (Lionbridge is an American-based global company.) Revenue information is available not only to shareholders, but is published on the web pages of the Commission (www.secinfo.com). On Lionbridge's 10-K forms, published openly on the internet, anybody can find out the revenue of any of Lionbridge's local offices. Anybody can also just type in the words "Lionbridge revenue" to see that it was common practice for Lionbridge to release information about their revenue to the press. The revenue of the Polish office was also printed in the Polish press.

It is quite hard to believe that a professional lawyer would not check this information, even more so as I submitted a letter to the firm, which Lionbridge submitted to the case as evidence, giving all the sources of information for the article in question, "Lionbridge, Globalizing Low Wages". Among the sources I submitted were the sources of information on the company revenue. There is no chance that the false allegations of leaking confidential information for the article can stick.

This leaves the company with only one strategy: to try to convince the court that, for political reasons, they should be spared from having to reinstate their former employee.

The Lion's Red Herring

The court date was preceded by an international solidarity campaign on behalf of the unfairly dismissed unionist. Protest letters were sent and solidarity pickets took place in Slovakia, Portugal, France and Belgium. The attention drawn by these pickets unnerved the Polish management of the company. In an attempt to weaken sympathy with Jakub, two letters were sent by management to workers of the Warsaw office, one of which was later leaked. The letters accuse the unionist of threatening the financial stability of the company because of the protests and warn workers that their job security could be on the line should the firm suffer because of the negative publicity.

Such logic is typically used in global corporations and this is not the first time such comments could be heard in the Polish office. Upon the creation of the union, Jakub was told essentially that unions undermine the competitiveness of the company. It was sometimes heard in the firm that the employees were all competing with Indian and Chinese workers and that acting out of line in anyway could mean that their jobs would be quickly lost to those countries.

In a letter to the employees and later (in an interview with a journalist from Poland's leading newspaper), Jacek Stryczynski, head of Lionbridge Poland, gave an emotional account of the inappropriateness of the protests, especially fixating on a stuffed toy lion used in Slovakia. (See picture here: http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl/?p=19) He told the journalist that he was "being persecuted by the Communist International". (For some people, anybody who criticizes a corporation must be a communist.) The letters sent to the employees could well be considered red-baiting. They constantly speak of anarchists and anti-globalists and insinuate that these actions have nothing to do with the welfare of the workers but with Jakub trying to make a career in the anti-globalist movement. (The fact that Jakub isn't an anti-globalist is another matter.) One letter implies that people with such political ideas cannot work in global companies which appears to be evidence of discrimination on political grounds - another violation of the Polish Labour Code.

Protests on the 4th of July

Protests in front of Lionbridge's Polish headquarters were seriously hampered by a downpour of torrential rain but a good crowd of hardcore activists came anyway and protested in the storm. (Thanks to people from ZSP, WRS, IP, FA, LA, SMS, etc.)
The management must have been thoroughly panicked after the visit of Priama Akcia to the Zilina office with a stuffed lion toy so long before we arrived, four vans of riot police appeared to protect the office from potential toy-carrying unionists.

There were some speeches and slogans. Besides that, ZSP (Union of Syndicalists) submitted a request for a translation job to the company. ZSP asked Lionbridge to translate an article about violations of workers' rights into all languages to be published on their website. (We don't think the firm will take the job.)

On the same day, solidarity actions were also held in Ireland, Copenhagen and in Madrid. (Huge thanks to everybody who took part in these actions or will take part in the ones planned for the future.) Leaflets were handed out with basic information about the case and about worker organizing.

Employee Reaction

In Ireland, employees were warned against talking to demonstrators or taking their leaflets. In Poland the employees had been warned beforehand that the demo was going to take place during working hours and of course leaving during working hours could carry serious consequences. A few might have been genuinely frightened by the totally unnecessary police presence and the amount of people from security filming the demo, so only a few brave ones came out and talked to the rain-soaked protestors. Unfortunately, a couple of employees later sent nasty emails to Jakub about the inappropriate form of protest in Slovakia (concretely, the mistreatment of the stuffed toy), but for every mail like that, Jakub, myself and others have received dozens of letters of support from Lionbridge employees and contractors around the world, especially freelance translators who also complained that they are often paid very late.

As one can expect, there are others in Lionbridge who may not be so gung-ho on the corporation's practices and who were genuinely offended by the e-mail sent to employees suggesting that people with certain political views shouldn't be employed by the company. This does not seem to be limited to people with leftist or liberal leanings: one person who wrote to me a couple of times in fact seems to be a quite patriotic American who is just genuinely concerned about good jobs being outsourced around the globe. (This earned Lionbridge a place on CNN's Lou Dobb's "Exporting America" list of US firms sending jobs abroad.) That person wrote that he wishes us well on the fourth of July and saw the case as an attack on freedom of speech and political thought, which are values he hopes every American would fight to uphold.

http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl
Read more!

Solidarity Action in Copenhagen

On July 4 there was a solidarity picket in Copenhagen in defense of the union in Lionbridge Poland and against repression. Participants handed out leaflets to Lionbridge and other workers in the building.

Thank you for the solidarity! Read more!

Solidarity Action in Paris

Activists from CNT-AIT in Paris visited the Lionbridge Office. They got past the guards, into the office where they distributed leaflets. They also had some words with the director of Lionbridge.

Thank you for the Solidarity! Read more!

Lionbridge Solidarity in Portugal

Members of Associação Internacional dos/as Trabalhadores/as, the Portuguese section of the IWA, made a solidarity action at the Lionbridge Lisbon office. They hung solidarity posters at the office of Lionbridge and sent protest letters to the firm.

Thanks for the Solidarity! Read more!

Kickoff of internationl week of actions against anti-union practices of Lionbridge

On Monday 30th June Priama akcia IWA Slovakia organised the second protest action in the seat of Slovak branch of Lionbridge or as Irish folks called it - "Lying Bridge" http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/8579/wizpostsf5.jpg). First news show that the action week initiated in cooperation with Polish anarchosyndicalists slowly brings its first results. What is needed now is to push even harder before 4.7.2008 when the trial starts!

Events in Zilina, Slovakia

This was our second action in Zilina branch of Lionbridge (first was in March together with International Secretary of IWA/AIT - http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=406). We went to 3rd and 9th floor where LB operates. On the 3rd floor we met with a few employees, had a
talk and spread leaflets.

Then we went to 9th floor where management seats to express our protest against the practices of the company and to show our support of Jakub and to give them small present (hanged lion with the Lionbridge name to stress that the company is digging its own grave - see
http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=439). In the hall a person who introduced himself as Víte(zslav ?i?lák approached us. We asked if we can meet with the manager, to which we received the reply that there is nobody there who could have time to meet us. We knew that the Polish manager was not there.

However, several things showed us that the Slovak manager was there and that he just cowardly sent this stooge. We didn't want to leave that easily, especially after this arrogant dealing with the guy saying ?and now please leave". However, we left after a while (that, we think, was a mistake). We handed out our present for the management. The guy said: "I hope there is no bomb in it" so we at least had a good laugh. We also noticed a felt pen sign next to the entry doors on the
9th floor saying "Readmission for Jakub!" that made the management so angry that Priama akcia received an e-mail from the owner of the building (not LB) that we are not welcome there anymore because of this.

At the parking place we spread some leaflets to windscreen wipers and left the place with thoughts what was done wrong and right. We would like to thank non-PA members for support of the action.

Events in Warsaw

In our article Join an international week of protests against the labour
practices of Lionbridge corporation
(http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=435) we wrote about ways to
help in the case of dismissed unionist Jakub G and other details.
Today, 2nd July, just 3rd day of the action week, we can clearly see the first
results of international pressure. Moreover, the Polish management received info
about the 4th July solidarity demo in front of the Warsaw company office. Their
response? Panic in the Warsaw branch. In other words, a crisis meeting was
called in a hurry to find what to do. One of results is that they want to block
the case from getting to mass media. Also last week's visit by the Labour
Inspection that was interested in Jakub's case was stressful for the management.
It seems the Lion doesn't like publicity. Which we will give it with pleasure;)
For those who want to know more about the background and concrete lawsuit
matters, we refer to articles from the website of Union of Polish Syndicalists
Czy publiczne informacje moga; byc' tajemnica; firmy?
(http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl/?page_id=18) and O sprawie
(http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl/?page_id=5).

Events worldwide

Besides our action on 30th June and international call for solidarity that
caused many e-mails and other forms of protest by individuals and organizations,
there will be other actions. For example in Madrid, Dublin, Copenhagen and
Warsaw on the 4th of July. Check news at the website of the Union of Polish
Syndicalists (http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl). There are also connections being
made with translator's associations which are interested in the case. For
example, the Irish ITIA published info about Jakub's case
(http://translatorsassociation.ie/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,64/Itemid,16/).
International pressure with actions directly in Poland shows itself to be a
strong weapon that will lead to successful outcome. The fact is that Lionbridge
management knows well they have no chance to win the court case.

The campaign goes on! And you can still easily join

Lionbridge thought that Jakub wouldn't defend himself. They were wrong. Now it
is important to put such a pressure, that they immediately give in and accept
Jakub's readmission. They have to feel that lawsuit will only hurt their
reputation and that they cannot act towards unions like that. That's why we
again appeal to show your solidarity. We believe you can find a few spare
minutes and we want to say thanks beforehand for that. Just click on article
Join an international week of protests... and you will learn how to do it.

Priama akcia Read more!

Action in Brussels

On July 1 our Belgian comrades visited Lionbridge offices in Brussels to protest against union busting practices in Poland. They gave out leaflets and spoke to the workers there.

Thank you for the Solidarity! Read more!

Protest Planned at Lionbridge

A protest in being planned for July 4 in Warsaw at the HQ of Lionbridge Polska

The picket will take place after the court session of Jakub G., dismissed unionist from Lionbridge.

We support the workers right to form a union and will not tolerate union busting! Read more!

Direct Action (Priama Akcia) Solidarity for Lionbridge Protest

Direct Action (Priama Akcia) from Slovakia is very active in supporting the
Lionbridge Protest. They have made the following page: http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=435

Join an international week of protests against the labour practices of Lionbridge
corporation

On 4th July 2008, a trial starts between Jakub G. and the Polish branch of Lionbridge (LB). From 30th June till 6th July there will be a week of actions around the world against anti-union practices of LB. The case may be critical to syndicalist activities not only in Poland but also globally. Priama akcia (IWA/AIT Slovakia) would like to ask you to show your solidarity
with Jakub in Poland. There are several ways to do so in each country.

WHAT TO DO

No matter what you do, it is important to do it, if possible, before 4th July so that info about what you did will hit the Warsaw branch before the trial starts.

1) ORGANISE ACTION in front of LB branch in your city and/or PAY A VISIT to the
management

Any actions directly at LB branches are more than welcome. It doesn't have to be
dozens of people. A small group of friends can organize ultrafast and put a
pressure easily as well. Check out
http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/company/locations.htm for seats of LB
branches worldwide.

2) SPREAD INFORMATION THROUGH INTERNET (chats, mailing lists, discussion forums...)
Many people spend some time online daily and have favourite chats, forums or
mailing lists. Some also might know about specialized forums for IT folks,
interpreters, unionists etc. Sending information to all kinds of online
discussion platforms may have several positive effects:
* It can bring info about the case to people and show that we can do
something to defend ourselves against employers
* It can be a good impulse to discuss the theme.
* The name of the company gets into circulation and that can be a signal
for example for IT workers' or interpreters' community to be careful when
looking for a job in such a company.

As a model message could be used perhaps this (or modification of course):

You might have heard about a trial that takes place in Warsaw on 4th July
2008 between Lionbridge corporation and a unionist Jakub G. Lionbridge is a
transnational corporation offering localization of software and other services.
It has branches on several continents, mostly in Europe, USA, India and China.

In the beginning of 2008 Jakub G. was fired from Polish branch in Warsaw
because he founded a union together with his colleagues. The company said that
he is author of an article telling about Dublin LB taking over a contract for
interpreting for Irish Courts that led to the decrease of the position of
professional interpreters and to lower wages. However, this information,
including revenues and wages of interpreters, is publicly accessible on the
internet – including on the Lionbridge website, newspapers and bulletins of
interpreters' unions. This was clearly a pretext to fire a trade-union organizer.

Before the trial starts there is going to be an international week of
actions for readmission of Jakub that anyone can easily join. For more info
click here http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_category&id=94.

It would be interesting to know whether you've seen similar problems at
your workplace, or whether you have experience with attempts to divide project
managers and the rest of interpreters in such companies. Or whether you have
similar experiences which have not been publicized (tell us how things were
solved).

Here you have info what the case is about: http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com
Here is a link to an action in support of the dismissed employee:
http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=406
Perhaps the most interesting is the interview with Jakub here:
http://www.priamaakcia.sk/?action=view_article&id=413

There are other interesting matters, and perhaps someone here even works or
worked for LB.


3) SEND E-MAIL, LETTER, FAX

Contact for Warsaw branch responsible for the firing:
Lionbridge Poland
183 Jutrzenki St.
02-231 Warsaw
Poland
Tel: +48 22 865 99 00
Fax: +48 22 865 99 30
e-mail: jacek.stryczynski@lionbridge.com

Send a copy of the e-mail and/or the fax also to the union: info@zsp.net.pl

Contacts for other national branches can be found here:
http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/company/locations.htm


Fax can include for example this text:

Greetings,
I am aware of the dismissal of Jakub G., employee of Warsaw branch of
Lionbridge, because of his union activities. I appeal to Lionbridge to
immediately stop the practices that lead to the suppression of basic employee
rights and I demand his readmission.
I will inform my friends and the general public about this case by
different means.

You must be aware that Jakub is going to win in the court. Do not
jeopardize your current reputation and your clients! Accept that you made a
mistake and reinstate Jakub! Respect basic employee rights, such as the right to
form a trade-union! Your company will be judged on how it respects employee rights.

NAME + CITY + COUNTRY


4) CONTACT THE BRANCH
Usually there are procedures to inform a central branch of the company in such
cases, thus this form of protest has a similar impact as if you were directly
protesting in Warsaw!
Call and ask the manager to come to the phone in the matter of the company’s
employee in Poland. Tell that you know about the dismissal case in Warsaw and
you are indignant at what the company did and demand the immediate readmission
of Jakub. Note that in case it doesn't happen, you will inform other people
about what is happening. What you tell is of course up to you. What is important
is not to have a mini court trial fight but to let them know people know about
what they did and they will do actions to immediately stop such practices..

Telephone to Warsaw: +48 22 865 99 00
Other country contacts:
http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/company/locations.htm

5) INFORM FRIENDS (in e-mails or icq, make some online banner and so)
You can send info about the case to your friends:
* to all the people in your e-mail address book
* to people from you icq list (msn, jabber whatever ;))
and ask them to find a moment to show their support. It is likely that they will
do it in some way. You know, friends are friends ;)
If you can, prepare some online banner and spread it. One banner is here:
http://zsp.net.pl/files/unionbusters.jpg


6) DO WHATEVER YOU FEEL;)


FEEDBACK
Inform us about what you've done so we can share that with Jakub and see what
was the response and overall interest in the support actions. Thanks beforehand.

Priama akcia – Slovak section of International Workers' Association (IWA/AIT)
priamaakcia(at)priamaakcia(dot)sk
www.priamaakcia.sk
Read more!

Priama akcia in Lionbridge, Žilina, Slovakia

As Priama akcia and other Sections of IWA-AIT informed in December 2007 a new grass-roots union was founded in the company Lionbridge, in its Warsaw branch in Poland. On 12th February, Jakub G. - member of the union - was dismissed. The dismissal came shortly after the announcement of union founding. Our Polish comrades from the ZSP call for solidarity actions for Jakub.

On 5th March 2008 during our More Than a Union speech tour we visited Slovak Lionbridge branch in Žilina, which has the same manager as the Polish one.

We entered the building with the Secretary of International Workers Association on Wednesday afternoon and discussed the issue with employees.

We spread leaflets about the situation of our friend Jakub and generally about practices of the company management. Another member of Priama akcia put some leaflets behind the windscreen-wipers of the nearby parked cars.

Meanwhile, Secretary of IWA had a meeting with a person from the management and told that IWA knows about the case and will follow it.

Employees of Lionbridge didn't know about Jakub and his dismissal but the team leader did. He expressed his opinion: according to him, Jakub shouldn´t have found a union, if he was not satisfied with the working conditions in Lionbridge – he rather should have found him a new job.

Person from the management was really shocked because of the visit of the Secretary of IWA from Serbia:) and said that he would inform his boss about it.

The aim of this action was to inform workers about the situation in Poland and to put pressure on the management – to tell them that we know about their practices against our comrade. We were also glad to express our solidarity with Jakub by this form of action.

Apart from the action we have started a money collection for Jakub, which is still in process.

Priama akcia - IWA Slovakia
www.priamaakcia.sk Read more!

Lionbridge unlawfully dismisses trade-union organizer

Lionbridge is the largest corporation in the globalizationLogo_lionbridge industry, which, among other things, translates and localizes software for giants such as Microsoft, Google and Adobe, provides Microsoft hotline services and even, controversially, provides interpreters to the Irish courts.

It has offices on several continents, notably in Europe, USA, India and China. The company’s headquarters are located in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. Lionbridge currently employs 4600 people in 26 countries and subcontracts work to over 25,000 independent translators. Lionbridge provides translation and localization of Web sites, mobile devices, software, and clinical trials.

In December 2007, workers in the Warsaw office of that firm created a trade union, called “Krajowa Federacja Pracownikow". On Feb. 12, 2008, Jakub G., a workplace union representative in Lionbridge Poland was dismissed on disciplinary grounds. The dismissal came shortly after the announcement to management that a union had been formed in the workplace and despite the fact that Jakub was protected by Polish Labor Law as an elected union representative.

Jakub was warned by members of the management that having a union would make the company "less competitive". The reason given for Jakub's dismissal was “damaging the company's image” and “disclosing confidential information” by writing an article which was published on the Internet. No proof of those allegations were given, and in fact, another person has admitted to writing the article.

The article in question, published in Polish and then in a slightly different English version, is in fact based entirely on information available on the internet. Lionbridge is on Lou Dobbs' "Exporting America" list of companies "sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers", as Dobbs puts it, although now that the dollar's value has dropped so drastically the firm plans more and more job cuts in Europe. Lionbridge publicly announced its plans a few years ago to shift some 40% of jobs from the US and UK to India and China. Information of this kind is public domain.

Incidents of firing union members in disregard of the law are fairly common in Poland, including firing protected union officials. Most often summary dismissals are given shortly after the creation of a union. There have also been a number of cases where unionists have been dismissed for "acting to the detriment of the company" by describing some aspect of work conditions to the press. ITUC has recorded many dozens of instances of unionists being dismissed shortly after announcing the formation of a new union. "Acting to the detriment of the company" and "disclosing secrets" are typical charges. It seems that the "birthplace of Solidarity" is now famous in European labour circles for firing unionists.

Jakub has filed a case against Lionbridge in the Polish Labor Court. The first hearing will take place on July 4th in Warsaw. The Lionbridge case will be closely looked at not only by unionists, but also by human rights organizations and even legal observers. What will be interesting for legal observers is to see how the corporate lawyers will try to argue that public information, available on the internet, may be considered at the same time "confidential".

Jakub has been working for the company for almost 8 years and received several promotions before becoming active as a trade-union organizer.

More information about the case is available at: http://lionbridge.zsp.net.pl

If you wish to express your support for Jakub, please write a protest letter to Lionbridge CEO Rory Cowan, at Lionbridge headquarters:
1050 Winter Street
Suite 2300
Waltham, MA 02451
Email: rory.cowan@lionbridge.com
Tel: +1 781 434 6000
Fax: +1 781 434 6034 Read more!