Here are five reasons:

1. Web-based email, which is what LabourStart now offers, allows you to easily check your mail (and send mail) from anywhere -- your home, office, on the road, a friend's computer, a cyber-cafe . . . All you have to remember is the LabourStart URL (http://www.labourstart.org), your user ID and password (both of which you select) -- and you have instant access to your email.

2. If you're accessing your trade union email at work, you might not want to use the conventional email servers and clients. By opening up a second address and using your web browser to view your mail, you can much more easily protect your privacy (you're not storing your email on your computer, and you simply erase your cache at the end of the session if you're concerned about security).

3. If you change internet service providers, or change your job or university, LabourStart's email offers you a permanent address.

4. The web-based email system we're using also allows you to access up to three other conventional (POP3) mailboxes. So if you're receiving mail through your internet service provider today, you can read it through your new account at LabourStart -- and you won't miss any mail at all.

5. Finally, why have email addresses that identify you as a customer of some company, like @aol.com or @msn.com? You can identify yourself as a trade unionist by having an email address that ends with @labourstart.zzn.com. (And yes, I admit it, by doing so, you help spread the news about LabourStart.)

   I encourage all of you to sign up for free, permanent email addresses at LabourStart. To make sure you get the account name you want, sign up today. Thanks!