Change growing apace?

Today is Halloween, and to celebrate, fellow blogger, Miguel Llorens, has relaunched his blog of a year ago featuring his public answer to a rather manipulative e-mail from Didier Hélin, VP of Lionbridge (LIOX): http://bit.ly/s4klbn. Hélin's e-mail was to persuade translation suppliers used by Lionbridge to accept a 5% reduction in their rates on the basis of the economic climate. Llorens outed Hélin by a public reply through his blog. Quite appropriate considering that Hélin's piece was one of those no-reply jobs.

The anniversary re-post shows great timing: all around the world, people are participating in the Occupy * movements, and at the same time, the figures on the pay rises among the top 1% of earners are coming out showing enormous increases with no justification in their performance, while the rest of us mortals - faced with inflation - are constantly losing ground.

Perhaps the days of translators taking things lying down are coming to a close: bad publicity may be better than none at all, but it can't help a company like Lionbridge if their corporate customers begin to wonder about the motivation and loyalty of their independent suppliers.

So, dear reader, since Hélin's outing, have you seen more negotiation between equals in the translation marketplace? Let us know!