Should We Boycott EA?

**selowitch** · 11-11-2004

If the accusations in this post turn out to be true, should we consider a massive boycott of EA until it changes its labor practices?

**Spaztic** · 11-11-2004

I like EA games....I will still buy them. Hey if you don't like your job quit.

**Nurb** · 11-11-2004

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Hey if you don't like your job quit.

thats not an easy thing to do when living paycheck to paycheck

**LynxFX** · 11-11-2004

I was with EA up until the part about 'no overtime pay, comp pay etc'. Working long hours is nothing new to most. Join a type 1 team that fights forest fires and you will learn what long hours are. 16 hour days for 21 straight days. Then you get 2 days off, and another 21 day assignment. And this isn't working behind a desk typing code, but working shovels and axes in the harsh forests. But they get their overtime and hazard pay. Lots of it.

**Chewy** · 11-11-2004

True Lynx, I have worked at a fire fighter in the bush before. But that is 2 maybe 4 months at the most. Then you are generally off for as long as you want. ie - no job. I also worked at a software company where everyone put in 80 hour weeks, and got a whopping $1000 bonus at Xmas for it. I actually got fired for, among other reasons, not working massive overtime hours on a regular basis for no pay or comp time.

I personally hate companies that do this. The only problem is that if the workers would just all refuse they would be unable to do it anymore. I sure don't like unions much either, but this is exactly why unions exist.

So basically no solution, but if I find out this is acually true, EA will not get another cent from me.

**Huckleberry** · 11-11-2004

Originally Posted by Chewy-XBA

So basically no solution, but if I find out this is acually true, EA will not get another cent from me.

i, too, did salaried software development under similar constraints, but nowhere near these hours. it's why i left and became a consultant.

but, chewy, i'm with you. i already have become wary of ea's heavy-handed tone, and was happy to see that they actually buckled a bit under the infinitly heavier weight of microsoft. i'd like to hear from some people that know for certain about this matter, but i'm down with letting them know that we are their business.

**CRAYMAN** · 11-11-2004

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I like EA games....I will still buy them. Hey if you don't like your job quit.

Ditto!

**Cryogenic Pyro** · 11-11-2004

My opinion on EA hasn't changed even after reading that. EA should die.

**l Maximus l** · 11-11-2004

Burnout 3 is too sweet to boycott EA! But, it lies on the shelf now since Halo 2 is out

**Latrine** · 11-11-2004

Heheh. I don't buy EA products anyways, reading this changes nothing.

**mattgame** · 11-11-2004

Nah, let's just play the games............................

**X-Fan** · 11-12-2004

call me selfish but who gives a ****?hey all you guys boycott dunkin donuts because i make all my employee work like dogs.they clean the restroom and basically dont even get the time to breath and i have been trained to do that by the franchise officials.

**OC Noob** · 11-12-2004

We reap what we sow.

If people want to slam unions and middle/lower class employees in general and support big corperations unwittingly they deserve what they get.

People are so quick to say get another job, they are lazy, they are whiners or anything supporting crappy working conditions/pay you have no right to complain when it happens to them, because they are supporting this crap.

I'm not saying don't buy anything from EA, I'm saying support your own team. If you are a middle class worker, support others like you, because it has an effect on your job too. Vote against politicians who are corporate *****es and pass no overtime pay laws or who give tax breaks to ship jobs overseas or buy a few less EA games or go spend a few dollars at the store that pays its employees a few more bucks and treats them well vs. saving a few bucks at some place like Walmart.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who are too short sited or ignorant to do whats best for their own long term interests. Why should I care if they don't care themselves, but still I make a conscious effort to do simple thigs like supporting unions, places that pay well and value employees when I can, not vote for jerks who are just out to increase corporate profits even if they claim terrorists are out to get me and only they can stop them.

We are lossing things people in the early to mid 1900's fought so hard to get and we are too blind to realize it.

Oh well, people can go ahead and work for Dunkin Dognuts (or any other of the 100's of millions of crappy service jobs) like dogs for $7 and hour (thats right, $15k per year) and work like dogs for the big bucks because the corporation says so and people like X-Fan can keep defending those practices just because Dunkin Dognuts told them to.

I really don't care if this story is true because it happens all the time and I really don't see what 90% of American are thinking or even if they are thinking when they argue for and fight for things that are hurting them, their families and their friends. Its very short sited of all of us.

**MerimacHamwich** · 11-13-2004

My brother is currently in the process of being hired by EA. I'll tell you sometime next year, if he gets the job, whether this is true or not.

**Holt88** · 11-13-2004

I'm looking foward to it Ham. That article really annoyed me, but alot of people knew EA was money hungry in the first place.

**BeyRevRa** · 11-13-2004

I can't recall ever purchasing an EA game anyway, so the article didn't change anything for me; it was an infurriating read though.

**Dyslexic Chaos** · 11-13-2004

You know, not saying she isn't telling the truth, but something seems fishy here.

#1) She sais she heard mangers say "If they don't like it, they can work someplace else.", but if she is the spouse of the worker, when and where would SHE hear this?

#2) This may seem a bit offensive, but it is not possible that he is just cheating on her? I mean, blaming everthing on the job, saying he has a headache (feel sorry for him and take the subject off where he was).

#3) If they were keeping on task, I'm sure EA would not make them work so long, especially if it didn't increase productivity. Believe it or not, even big companies don't go" Hey, lets piss off our thousands of employees, with absolutley no benefit to us."

And no, I do not feel THAT sorry for them if this is true, because while I don't believe he should quit, nothing is stopping the thousands of employee from walking up to the head honchos office (head of HR possibly?), knocking on the door and saying "Start changing or we walk". Believe or not, even a big company like EA will succumb to a massive strike, and if everyone quits/gets fired as a result, the next batch of employees will be hard to come by and will be aware of what happened, and will at least, be less likely to be pushed around.

**Kyle Static** · 11-13-2004

EA blows the big one.....corporate *******s.

**MajorTom** · 11-13-2004

If I could talk to that person I would tell them to suck it up. I believe they said "the salary was right" if the salary is right, it's even more right wenn you're working more hours because you're making more money. If you're working for a big corporation you're probably making a fair amount of money. If you're making a fair hourly wage when you're working a lot of hours, then you're making a lot of money. Some people have to work that much at minimum wage and still have to struggle to pay for rent, etc. Some of these people also have to support a family. If this person doesn't want to work that much he can quit and find another job. A lot of people don't have that choice. If he's staying at that job, there is a reason for it. It's probably because he'd making more money there than he would anywhere else. In which case, they're really not that unfair are they?