Weekly update, 6-10 August 2012
Campaigns:
- I cleared the backlog of translations of campaigns and mass mailings.
- Two new campaigns were launched – Swaziland (7 August) and Turkey DHL (8 August).
- I fixed the mycampaigns.cgi script — while it was working OK, it was forcing the system to use the old website addresses and forwarding.
- The Iraq campaign was closed with fewer than 4,000 messages sent.
- We assisted Unite Here and the IUF with promoting their own campaigns this week; in the former case, this also consisted in giving them a lot of constructive criticism about how to campaign globally.
- Two campaigns were given a special boost this week – the RMT campaign in support of London cleaners on Friday when a 48 strike as launched with picketing outside the Olympics venue, and the Hava-Is campaign for Turkish airline workers – because of the new ITF video. The last of these is our largest campaign at the moment, with well over 8,000 messages sent.
Ukrainian edition: I added 9 correspondents – Masha is co-ordinating this effort. The interface is already working.
London Labour Film Festival: I’ve been promoting this to our lists and via social media. LabourStart is getting a quarter-page ad in the festival program. We are also allowed to distribute our brochure at the door. The festival takes place in mid-September at the Prince Charles Cinema in central London.
App: We’ve been sent an interesting proposal by a company in Canada offering to do this for us; now under consideration.
Conference 2012: Now little more than 3 months away. The organizing committee is meeting again next week. A draft registration form is now ready and a bank account has been set up. Proposals are being discussed for panels.
Conference 2013: There’s been an offer to host this in Vancouver. More details soon.
Office in London: I continue to search – have found one very good candidate on Thursday, am looking at another on Monday and will probably decide then. Packing up of the existing office has already begun.
Fund-raising: We received a substantial one-off donation from the IUF.
Upcoming conferences I’ve been invited to speak at: UNITE Wales in Cardiff in September (“Fifty shades of campaigning“); NASUWT in London in November; Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA) in New York City next June. (I will be contacting some of you for help on organizing a panel for the last of these.) I also hope to attend the TUC in Brighton in early September. These are all also opportunities to distribute the LabourStart brochure (1,900+ copies remaining).
Other writing: The current wave of anti-union repression we’re seeing in places like Nigeria and Turkey is the subject of my next regular monthly column for Jungle World.