INDUSTRY NEWS

Sold American?

Disgruntled process engineers, take note. Perhaps you don't have to wait for a headhunter or your second cousin to find you your ticket out of that dead-end fab. Find a few similarly dissatisfied colleagues and follow the example of some Silicon Valley trailblazers. In April, 16 fed-up workers tried to take the high-tech road out of their low-paying jobs by selling themselves as a package on eBay, the San Jose­based Internet auction house. The team included a director, two managers, and three engineers. "We were...watching our company disintegrate, and watching all these great people leaving," one of the anonymous employees, a software engineer, told Associated Press. Their listing under Computers read, in part: "Group formed major ISP presence in Silicon Valley/U.S. and is now looking for other challenges...." Their asking price of $3.14 million "would give us all raises," the engineer pointed out. Two early bids met the price.

"The people that put [the listing] up removed it about two days later," said Kevin Pursglove, eBay's senior director for communications. Were they serious about their offer? "Yes, as far as we could tell," said Pursglove, who spoke with these pioneers twice. Whether they had a change of heart or negotiated better contracts, the team members may have started a trend that could prod mean management types to shape up. "As a matter of fact," noted Pursglove, "two more listings appeared shortly afterwards under Services."

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