Inside LabourStart

Conference 2023: We have begun work planning our next Global Solidarity Conference — which is long overdue — in Tbilisi.  The Georgian Trade Union Confederation has named its members of the steering committee and we have invited members of the LabourStart Executive to participate as well.  We hope to have the first meeting of the joint committee very soon.

Iran: We have raised workers’ rights cases in Iran with three global union federations — IndustriALL, the ITF and Education International.  EI has requested to be included as a sponsor of our current campaign; we have asked about whether they want a separate campaign for a teacher activist.

News database: The work repairing this continues as we consider moving the whole database to a different web hosting company.  (Support from our current hosts has been non-existent — and they caused the problem in the first place.)

New correspondents: We added three new correspondents last week from Canada (Iran), Germany and Hong Kong (UK).

Campaigns: We had been invited to prepare a campaign in support of a workers’ rights activist in Kenya, but the company caved and agreed to the demands before a campaign could be launched.

Because we’re very late with this report, it will be very brief — but should give you a good idea of what LabourStart has been up to in the last four months. Regular updates will resume from next week.

Campaigns

• We closed the IUF’s Cambodia Nagaworld campaign – it was a win.  We also closed the Lithuania and Colombia campaigns – which we could not declare as victories.
• We launched a campaign in support of Borjomi water workers in Georgia – and closed it after a couple of days – this was a big win for the workers.  Eric got to spend a day with the strikers during his visit to Georgia in May, where he also met with the Georgian union leadership.
• In early May, we launched a new campaign in support of jailed union leaders in Belarus – with the help of GLU students.  It is currently our largest campaign, with over 9,700 supporters.
• We also launched a new campaign on Iran, with the support of the IUF.
• And we also launched a campaign in support of a jailed trade unionist in Kazakhstan.
• We launched our first campaign in Armenian, now that the interface has been translated into that language.

Global Solidarity Conference 2023

Discussions begin with the Georgian Trade Union Confederation about holding a conference in Tbilisi in early 2023.

Fundraising

We sent out a fundraising appeal at the beginning of April. We raised over £2,000 in the first 24 hours, and more funds over the course of the following months.

Home page

Due to changes made by our web hosts, IONOS, many records became corrupted and character encoding on our home page broke on 1 July. Following that, we had problems with our jobs page, our photo of the week and our link to Radio Labour. Most of this has now been fixed, and work on this should be completed by 10 August.

Interns

Our three GLU interns finished their work at the end of March.  We were lucky to have Jessica, Malaika and Zubair working with us — albeit for just a few weeks — and thank them for their efforts.

Labour News Network

This was improved with a new banner and with several items posted to it.

Mailing lists

We migrated from Mailchimp to Mailjet in May, saving a lot of money.

May Day

• We organised a recorded May Day event with the participation of many trade unions from around the globe.
• There were 649 views of the video as of 2 May, and 500 more since then.
• We shared many of the individual videos across social media in May.

Social media

• A new Twitter account was created – https://twitter.com/LabourSouthAsia
• Our YouTube channel was revived to accommodate the May Day videos.

UK

• Invited by the TUC, Eric spoke with campaigns and communications staffers from several unions on a Zoom call.
• We participated for the first time in the Tolpuddle festival – Derek and Eric spoke in one session, LabourStart had a stall, we gave out hundreds of leaflets, and distributed some copies of our book on migrant workers.

The first number next to each item is the current total as of today; the second number is the total as of the first day of last month.  Where one number is provided it means that there has been no change since last month.

Lists or accounts that have shrunk are in italics.  Lists or accounts which experienced growth are in bold.

Mailing Lists:

The top 10:

English: 73493-73419

French: 7457-7308

German: 5766

Spanish: 5428

Turkish: 4161-4152

Korean: 3308

Italian: 3074-3059

Russian: 2668

Norwegian: 2121-2087

Romanian:  1771

Dutch: 1476-1472

The others:

Arabic:  821

Belarusian:  288

Bulgarian: 17

Chinese: 899

Creole:  11

Czech: 63

Danish: 92

Esperanto: 178-173

Farsi:  207

Finnish:  465-453

Georgian:  135

Greek: 54

Hebrew:  289

Hindi:  80

Hungarian:  178

Indonesian:  460

Japanese: 386

Lithuanian:  63

Malaysian: 21

Polish: 837

Portuguese: 1287-1282

Punjabi:  2

Sinhalese: 1

Slovakian: 15

Swedish: 947-945

Tagalog: 159

Thai:  152

Ukrainian: 313-301

Vietnamese:  21

Internal:

Executive and Interns:  12

LabourStart Correspondents:  659

LabourStart Translators:  87

Africa Caucus:  63

Flickr:

838 members.

10297-10286 photos.

Facebook Pages/Groups:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

LabourStart.org page likes:  13547-13553

LabourStart.org page follows: 14490-14497

Global Labour News and Information: 9013

LabourStart UK likes:  2032-2033

LabourStart UK follows:  2096-2093

LabourStart Francophone: 590 (last post February 2021)

LabourStart Brasil:  502-504

LabourStart Turkce:  2104-2096

LabourStart TV likes: 446-489

LabourStart TV follows:  460

LabourStart Israel: CLOSED (last post 2018)

LinkedIn:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

Group: 2545-2552

Page: 123-122

Twitter:

Sporadic efforts were made to grow the Global English-language, Canadian English-language, Global Portuguese-language and Global Spanish- feeds.  No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers for other accounts.

Global English: 36427-35097

Canada English: 20951-19990

Portuguese: 9193-8714

Global Spanish: 8940-8269

Australia: 8754-8752

USA: 5481

Canada French: 3098-3102

Russian: 46

Hebrew:  48-47 (last tweet 02-2021)

Italian: 507-438 (last tweet 11-2021)

Swedish: 337 (last tweet 2016)

Indonesia: 350 (last tweet 2015)

French: 226 (last tweet 2018)

German: 120 (last tweet 2018)

Japanese: 21 (last tweet 2012)

Dutch: 12 (last tweet April 2012)

Arabic: 7 (last tweet May 2012)

South Asia (English): 21 NEW and not yet active.

The first number next to each item is the current total as of today; the second number is the total as of the first day of last month.  Where one number is provided it means that there has been no change since last month.

Lists or accounts that have shrunk are in italics.  Lists or accounts which experienced growth are in bold.

Mailing Lists:

The top 10:

English: 73419-72943

French: 7308

German: 5766-5578

Spanish: 5428-5398

Turkish: 4152

Korean: 3308

Italian: 3059-3047

Russian: 2668-2645

Norwegian: 2087

Romanian:  1771-1772

Dutch: 1472-1439

The others:

Arabic:  821

Belarusian:  288

Bulgarian: 17

Chinese: 899

Creole:  11

Czech: 63

Danish: 92

Esperanto: 173

Farsi:  207-209

Finnish:  453

Georgian:  135-138

Greek: 54

Hebrew:  289

Hindi:  80

Hungarian:  178

Indonesian:  460

Japanese: 386

Lithuanian:  63

Malaysian: 21

Polish: 837

Portuguese: 1282

Punjabi:  2

Sinhalese: 1

Slovakian: 15

Swedish: 945-982

Tagalog: 159

Thai:  152

Ukrainian: 301

Vietnamese:  21

Internal:

Executive and Interns:  12

LabourStart Correspondents:  659-656

LabourStart Translators:  87

Africa Caucus:  63

Flickr:

838 members.

10286-10287 photos.

Facebook Pages/Groups:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

LabourStart.org page likes:  13553-13565

LabourStart.org page follows: 14497-14509

Global Labour News and Information: 9013-8993

LabourStart UK likes:  2033

LabourStart UK follows:  2093-2094

LabourStart Francophone: 590 (last post February 2021)

LabourStart Brasil:  504-503

LabourStart Turkce:  2096

LabourStart TV likes: 489-449

LabourStart TV follows:  460-469

LabourStart Israel: 149 (last post 2018)

LinkedIn:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

Group: 2552-2500

Page: 122

Twitter:

Sporadic efforts were made to grow the Global English-language, Canadian English-language, Portuguese-language, Spanish-language and Australian feeds.  No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers for other accounts.

Global English: 35097-33898

Canada English: 19990-19134

Australia: 8752-8490

Portuguese: 8714-8274

Global Spanish: 8269-7692

USA: 5481-5487

Canada French: 3102-3100

Russian: 46

Hebrew:  47-43 (last tweet 02-2021)

Italian: 438-506 (last tweet 11-2021)

Swedish: 337 (last tweet 2016)

Indonesia: 350 (last tweet 2015)

French: 226 (last tweet 2018)

German: 120 (last tweet 2018)

Japanese: 21 (last tweet 2012)

Dutch: 12 (last tweet April 2012)

Arabic: 7 (last tweet May 2012)

South Asia (English): 21 NEW and not yet active.

The first number next to each item is the current total as of today; the second number is the total as of the first day of last month.  Where one number is provided it means that there has been no change since last month.

The drop in the size of many lists is due to the shift from Mail Chimp to MailJet.  This s reflect a ‘tidy’ of the lists rather than a real reduction.

Mailing Lists:

The top 10:

English: 72943-78204

French: 7308-7816

German: 5578-5908

Spanish: 5398-5585

Turkish: 4152-4218

Korean: 3308-3299

Italian: 3047-3175

Russian: 2645-2720

Norwegian: 2087-2169

Romanian:  1772

Dutch: 1439-1568

The others:

Arabic:  821-832

Belarusian:  288

Bulgarian: 17

Chinese: 899-944

Creole:  11

Czech: 63

Danish: 92-93

Esperanto: 173-179

Farsi:  209

Finnish:  453-463

Georgian:  138

Greek: 54

Hebrew:  289-307

Hindi:  80-34

Hungarian:  178-187

Indonesian:  460

Japanese: 386-396

Malaysian: 21

Polish: 837-850

Portuguese: 1282-1344

Punjabi:  2

Sinhalese: 1

Slovakian: 15

Swedish: 982

Tagalog: 159

Thai:  152

Ukrainian: 301-306

Vietnamese:  21

Internal:

Executive and Interns:  12

LabourStart Correspondents:  656-664

LabourStart Translators:  87-89

Africa Caucus:  63

Flickr:

The site was down for maintenance when this report was being prepared.  These numbers are for last month.

838 members.

10287 photos.

Facebook Pages/Groups:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

LabourStart.org page likes:  13565-13546

LabourStart.org page follows: 14509-14481

Global Labour News and Information: 8993

LabourStart UK likes:  2033-2032

LabourStart UK follows:  2094-2092

LabourStart Francophone: 590-589 (last post February 2021)

LabourStart Brasil:  503

LabourStart Turkce:  2096-2101

LabourStart TV likes: 449-448

LabourStart TV follows:  469-460

LabourStart Israel: 149 (last post 2018)

LinkedIn:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

Group: 2500-2477

Page: 122-112

Twitter:

Sporadic efforts were made to grow the Global English-language, Portuguese-language, Spanish-language and Australian feeds.  No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers for other accounts.

Global English: 33898-32454

Canada English: 19134-18226

Portuguese: 8274-7942

Australia: 8490-7798

Global Spanish: 7692-7433

USA: 5487-5551

Canada French: 3100-3106

Russian: 46-44

Hebrew:  43 (last tweet 02-2021)

Italian: 506

Swedish: 337-336 (last tweet 2016)

Indonesia: 350 (last tweet 2015)

French: 226 (last tweet 2018)

German: 120 (last tweet 2018)

Japanese: 21 (last tweet 2012)

Dutch: 12 (last tweet April 2012)

Arabic: 7 (last tweet May 2012)

South Asia (English): 5-3 NEW and not yet active.

The first number next to each item is the current total as of today; the second number is the total as of the first day of last month.  Where one number is provided it means that there has been no change since last month.

Lists or accounts that have shrunk are in italics.  Lists or accounts which experienced growth are in bold.

We continue to see the negative effects of the EU’s GDPR.

Mailing Lists:

The top 10:

English: 78204-77567

French: 7816-7836

German: 5908-5846

Spanish: 5585-5561

Turkish: 4218-4222

Korean: 3299

Italian: 3175-3187

Russian: 2720-2703

Norwegian: 2169-2179

Romanian:  1772

Dutch: 1568-1551

The others:

Arabic:  832

Belarusian:  288

Bulgarian: 17

Chinese: 944

Creole:  11

Czech: 63

Danish: 93-95

Esperanto: 179-176

Farsi:  209

Finnish:  463-472

Georgian:  138

Greek: 54

Hebrew:  307-306

Hindi:  80-34

Hungarian:  187

Indonesian:  460-433

Japanese: 396

Malaysian: 21

Polish: 850-849

Portuguese: 1344

Punjabi:  2

Sinhalese: 1

Slovakian: 15

Swedish: 982

Tagalog: 159

Thai:  152

Ukrainian: 306

Vietnamese:  21

Internal:

Executive and Interns:  16

LabourStart Correspondents:  664-660

LabourStart Translators:  89

Africa Caucus:  63

Flickr:

838-836 members.

10287-10237 photos.

Facebook Pages/Groups:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

LabourStart.org page likes:  13546-13554

LabourStart.org page follows: 14481-14477

Global Labour News and Information: 8993-8963

LabourStart UK likes:  2032-2036

LabourStart UK follows:  2092-2095

LabourStart Francophone: 589-588 (last post February 2021)

LabourStart Brasil:  503

LabourStart Turkce:  2101-2107

LabourStart TV likes: 448-447

LabourStart TV follows:  460

LabourStart Israel: NOT FOUND-149

LinkedIn:

No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers.

Group: 2477-2438

Page: 112-103

Twitter:

Sporadic efforts were made to grow the Global English-language, Portuguese-language, Spanish-language and Australian feeds.  No concerted effort was made in the past month to increase our numbers for other accounts.

Global English: 32454-30795

Canada English: 18226-18039

Portuguese: 7942-6518

Australia: 7798-6755

Global Spanish: 7433-6409

USA: 5551-5567

Canada French: 3106-3112

Russian: 44- 45

Hebrew:  43-42 (last tweet 02-2021)

Italian: 506-505

Swedish: 336 (last tweet 2016)

Indonesia: 350 (last tweet 2015)

French: 226 (last tweet 2018)

German: 120 (last tweet 2018)

Japanese: 21 (last tweet 2012)

Dutch: 12 (last tweet April 2012)

Arabic: 7 (last tweet May 2012)

South Asia (English): 3 NEW

ILO: We gave extensive publicity on LabourStart’s home page and across social media to some key developments at the meeting of the ILO Governing Body last week — including the passage of a resolution on Ukraine and Russia, and the election of a new, union-backed Director General.

GLU conference: At the request of the Global Labour University we have helped to promote their annual conference with a mass mailing to our list. It appears that nearly 500 people from our list clicked through to learn more about or register for the conference.

Interns: Tomorrow marks the final day at work for our three interns from the Global Labour University – Jessica, Malaika and Zubair. We cannot thank them enough for all that they did during their time with us.

Donations: We received a generous donation from Industriall Europe.

T-shirts: We promoted the latest Working Class History t-shirt of the month across our social media accounts.

ITUC and ETUC leaders at a rally in solidarity with Ukraine.

Ukraine: LabourStart continues to be the main source of news on the trade union response to the war in Ukraine.

We had the opportunity in the last week to highlight statements from the Nordic trade unions, Solidarnosc (Poland) and KVPU (Ukraine) which criticised the continued membership of the pro-Putin Russian trade union centre FNPR in the ITUC.

We also shared today a long statement from the European Trade Union Confederation which also severely criticised FNPR.

Earlier, we published statements from two Russian national trade union centres, FNPR and KTR.

Jordan: Our planned webinar for last Friday (organised with the Education International) has been postponed. But EI remains interested in doing more webinars with us, so watch this space.

Donations: We’ve received a generous donation from BWI.

Coming up: In the next few weeks we will be holding our annual spring fundraiser and also preparing for a major online event to mark May Day – International Workers’ Day.

Elizabeth Tang from the IDWF.

International Women’s Day: Our webinar run jointly with the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) was a success. About 300 people participated in the event on Zoom and Facebook. The event was recorded and we shared the link today (https://vimeo.com/686778630).

Jordan: Working together with the Education International, we will be hosting a webinar next Friday, 18.3 in English and Arabic. We will be reopening our campaign in support of the Jordanian Teachers’ Association which was suspended a while back.

UK: We were invited to speak to the London/South East TUC about LabourStart this week — and also got the chance to speak with a group of fisherman from Namibia who were on the call.

Donations: IndustriALL has made a very generous donation.

International Women’s Day: We agreed a day, time and topic for a global webinar organised with the International Domestic Workers Federation. We’ve done a lot of publicity on social media and mass mailings. IDWF is pulling together a fantastic panel. The event takes place on Tuesday, 8 March at 13:00. This is the URL to register to attend the event: http://www.labourstart.org/go/iwd2022

Lithuania: Our campaign continues to grow. We’re now at 5,563 supporters. The strike has been suspended due to the state of emergency in the country, but they have asked to continue promoting the campaign.   This week we did another mass mailing to our English list.

Ukraine: We continue posting lots of news from unions around the world about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Using our website and social media accounts we have promoted the ITUC appeal for donations too.

UK: Next week I’ve been invited to speak at an online event organised by trade unions in London and the South East of England on the subject of global solidarity and LabourStart.

USA: We’re helping the Progressive Caucus of Democrats Abroad, at their request, with weekly labour news bulletins, focussing mainly on US labour news.