European Web Hoster on Strike
According to an article posted at thewhir.com, Nearly the entire staff for European Web hosting provider Amen (amenworld.com) has been on strike since its parent company Via Net.Works announced early last week that it had been acquired by Claranet (claranet.com), according to the blog amenengreve.info (amenengreve.info/en/).
In an industry as young as Web Hosting, mergers and aquisitions are not uncommon. In my seven year career at Interland, I saw more than 13 different M&A related activities. Never, however have I seen a complete breakdown in labor relations. I can't say that I'm not surprised however. There is a great deal of pressure on industry players to be lean and mean to cut costs and improve profitability. Couple this with the intense demands placed on technical staff to keep their systems up 24/7x365, deal with demanding customers, keep your systems safe from hackers, etc. Needless to say, working at a medium to large sized Web Hosting company can be extremely demanding and stressful. I'm not surprised to see a strike, and I'm sure this won't be the last we hear of in the Web Hosting industry.
