About Lionbridge's second propaganda session

August 21st

Dear All,

For their second propaganda session Lionbridge stuck to it's favorite strategy: fear.

The main red cape to frighten us is the strike that the union could impose on us, bringing ruin to all.

The only problem with this scenario, as Eric pointed in his FAQ post on the blog, is that if ever a strike was considered (very unlikely), you would have to vote for it as you will have to approve an eventual contract.

Lionbridge claimed that a union makes promises but in fact can guarantee nothing: we have made no promises and we know that winning the elections would only be one step toward a negotiating table where Lionbridge could concede nothing.

We only believe we have a better chance to obtain something by collective bargaining than by one on one discussions with Brent.

While Lionbridge trumpets the family like climate we have seen how difficult he tried to make it recently for one of us who needed to go take care of his dad.

This unpaid leave is supposedly one of the 'benefits' we have now?

It's just the law in Washington State and Lionbridge is not that willing to implement it: so much for empathy and compassion.

Today a co-worker asked to leave one hour before time because his wife needed him to take care of their infant daughter.

The Tier2 reaction was mostly about how he would be able to compensate or not for this one hour absence: so much for flexibility and empathy.

All what Lionbridge listed as 'benefits' are legal obligations they cannot avoid. You know (and they know) very well we have zero benefits but for the meager 401K.

The generosity of Lionbridge has consisted of not reducing our hours while they tell us they considered it

Do you seriously believe they could have done it?

No way and of course it puts them in the driver's seat when they are not: the real driver is Microsoft.

Lionbridge told us that Microsoft had been informed of the petition and did not want to get involved (as we assumed they would react at this stage).

We were assured we were doing an excellent job, that the client was satisfied but did we hear anything about a raise and some real benefits?

No, we only heard about their concern for their profitability.

The only way for us to get some bigger share of the profits is to vote for the union and bargain collectively.

There is no guarantee but it's the only chance we have and it's our right to do it as they themselves emphasized in the notice they were forced to send us.

Who can you trust to defend your interests?

Yourself and your pals within your union or Brent and co?

Of course you know that.

Thanks in advance for your eventual feedback and for keeping talking with our co-workers.

Have a good evening

Philippe