This a draft outline prepared by Derek Blackadder for a book which we aim to get published sometime in the next year — it will be jointly authored by a number of us, and Derek, working together with Art Shostak and others, will be editing and coordinating this project.
That’s not a typo — it’s how most Americans would spell LabourStart. Today for the first time we have a proper US news page which can be reached at any of the following URLs:
The new page includes links to the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, the ILCA, Union Jobs, the UCS bookstore and three independent national unions (NEA, UE and IWW). It also spells ‘labour’ the American way throughout. It tells users that they can click on state names to see state-specific news. And it has much more content than the previous US news page, which you can still view here.
As of now, anyone clicking on Australia, Canada or the USA from the front page of LabourStart, from any news story, is automatically taken to one of our new pages for those countries.
There are many ways to measure progress on LabourStart and not all of them involve counting. Nevertheless, there are certain indicators of growth. I’d like to post these from time to time here so that we can see how fast we are growing, to see what needs more work, and so on. So here goes:
Eric: This is the first time we’re using the terminology “next year’s conference.” We should continue to do these conferences annually in different parts of the world. Canada? Does not necessarily have to be coordinated with ITUC events. A West-coast conference in Vancouver could concentrate on trade unionism in the Pacific basin. If on the east coast, Toronto would be a possibility.
Mahesh Upadhyaya: State of the trade union movement in India. A union must have 500,000 members in five states/industry. Recognition granted by Ministry of Labour. In India, unions are associated with political parties. Recognized and unrecognized unions; defunct central trade unions. What role can LS play?
Contact individual unions that the Global unions think would be interested in LS. Presently, no other regularly active LS correspondents in India. Difficult to recruit volunteers. Might be useful to have a Hindi edition of LS (need to hire a low-cost translator). Most unionists who do not read English also do not have internet access. Only the elite in urban unions have internet access.
Eric: Hindi edition of LS could be done almost immediately. Bengali edition should be done as well. Reading LS, one would get the impression that there are lots of trade union struggles in Pakistan, but not India, probably because of LS’s relationship to the IUF. More correspondents, more news, more languages between now and when we meet next.
Derek: Letter of introduction to those who do not know us?
David Prosten (UCS): The Union Steward’s Complete Guide. Started book catalog in 1997. Publishes Steward Update, circ. 80,000. Complete Guide has been very successful. Catalog includes hard-core books to build the labor movement, now in many different categories.
https://ssl30.pair.com/unionist/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=cat&ref=tools
Eric: Authors are beginning to approach us with their books. Authors and book sellers trying to figure out: How do you sell a union book to union members? Language concerns–sell books to an international audience.
Derek: Photo of the year competition. It is important to document not only union struggles around the world, but we’re specifically doing, too. Contest was a success and has great potential to go further. We have three union photographers to act as judges. Derek would be happy to do this again next time.
See www.flickr.com/groups/union/
He also believes that some local places might be willing to display our photos. Eric: It is preferable to have this competition the same time each year.
Union website recognition, too, is a useful way to attract attention. Eric: We already do this in our weekly mailings.
Chris Garlock (communications, organizing: dclabor.com) on film festivals. “What have the unions ever done for us?” From Your Rights at Work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=184NTV2CE
This movie has turned out to be an excellent organizing tool. Christine (from IMF) spoke about films at Global Union Federation labor film contest. 75 submissions this year from around the world. Limited by English, but still growing. Struggle every year is to get quality, interesting films that are not like infomercials, but more and more excellent films are made every year. Purchase a channel to show online films?
Chris: There are probably dozens of film festivals around the world each year. Film is a powerful medium and, with sites such as youtube.com, there is easy access and more and more labor films produced.
“Just another cog in the machine”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLGoKqPAhSk (John Wood). Eric: Viewership for this film jumped over 1000% after mention in LS. Chris: There may be many more films like this out there — we need to find and promote them.
“We were there”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjnyk06MZRY , with song by Bev Grant w/ Brooklyn Women’s Chorus. Chris: There is a hunger out there for labor history films. Can LS find and help us promote these films?
Eric: There is a need for an online database of labor films and labor-film festivals. It should be a priority. Should consider using tools, such as Youtube and their competitors. Video contest of the year. LS branding. ILCA and CALM should be part of any project. ITUC should be part of the process. Chris: LS can connect people and help get the tools out there. Big return on small investment of time.
Eric: We need more US correspondents that are more engaged in American union issues. LS campaigns on behalf of US unions. How do we get US unions to come to us? American unions need be more involved in international campaigns but, very often, are not interested in international concerns. How can this be combated? How can we do necessary educational work about global issues in the US?
Arieh: We need to get people from unions into sessions like this, maybe from unions that have a connection to an international issue that we have targeted.
Help targeted unions with ActNOW campaigns and eventually find more correspondents. It is even difficult to get people interested in something happening in their own union, but in a different local. International interest? Apathy is not a new problem.
Eric invited to and visited Toronto at the height of the SARS panic. Asked, “What can LS do for you?”
Derek: Effective to contact individuals from unions whose locals use LS news feed and ask them to become correspondents so that their own news will appear on that country’s page.
Tula Connell spoke about the AFL-CIO blog.
But why are American trade unionists so resistant to international trade unionism?
http://www.schoolbusworkersunited.org/
Originally, an SEIU campaign, now being run by the Teamsters. Organizing campaign is successful. Provides people with a forum where workers can talk to workers online. Site is essentially unmoderated, but some particularly unfriendly comments are directed to other sites. Some ground rules in discussion. Every single victory is listed by date, location, company, etc. Some information on Canadian Teamsters. People need to log in to participate and comment. We get names and email addresses.
Stu Elliott: These sites can be a good source of information for LS postings.
Andrew Casey on “Your Rights at Work” campaign. Election of labour gov’t last year after conservative administration previously which pushed through many anti-union laws. Community groups organize their own websites on labour rights.
http://www.rightsatwork.com.au
Your Right to Work (book) on Marriott Workers Campaign lays out how to carry out a successful campaign. Significant work by Peter Lewis, Workers Online
http://workers.labor.net.au/site/about.html
Richard: Teamsters request user name, password and gather this data and place into the back of the website. Continuously gathering email addresses. People will provide more information about themselves if there are incentives.
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