In under two years since setting up their union, 1,300 workers workers at Microsoft in the Czech Republic have won a landmark collective bargaining agreement.
They’d have to effectively close down the Czech branch of the company.
There used to be shenanigans where an owner would shut down one company and continue as another but goverment labor watchdogs have gotten wise to such methods. And it would be ridiculously overt for a corporation like Microsoft especially under these circumstances when they’re in the full spotlight.
No, they’ll try to “lobby” the politicians as usual and push for union-unfriendly legislation, try to limit union applicability to certain industry branches, and if all else fails pull out of Czech Republic and hope the rest of Eastern Europe doesn’t follow suit.
that means also potentially stop selling their product in the country. Most big tech companies operate in open violation of GDPR and they are not held accountable only for political reasons. If the government has enough pressure to act, they might force Microsoft to bargain with a lot of leverage on the table. 1300 specialized jobs in Czech are no little business.
They’d have to effectively close down the Czech branch of the company.
There used to be shenanigans where an owner would shut down one company and continue as another but goverment labor watchdogs have gotten wise to such methods. And it would be ridiculously overt for a corporation like Microsoft especially under these circumstances when they’re in the full spotlight.
No, they’ll try to “lobby” the politicians as usual and push for union-unfriendly legislation, try to limit union applicability to certain industry branches, and if all else fails pull out of Czech Republic and hope the rest of Eastern Europe doesn’t follow suit.
They’d do just that. Then they’d employ ‘third parties’ (read: ‘shell companies’) that would do their biddings. That’s how its been done.
Which is why, hopefully, this union will progress to being a national IT union and not remain a strictly one-time Microsoft thing.
Yeah, I think that’s basically what they’re going to do.
that means also potentially stop selling their product in the country. Most big tech companies operate in open violation of GDPR and they are not held accountable only for political reasons. If the government has enough pressure to act, they might force Microsoft to bargain with a lot of leverage on the table. 1300 specialized jobs in Czech are no little business.