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Do Webcams Belong at the Negotiating Table? One Union Thinks So

Submitted by Steve Dondley on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 2:23pm

Best practices and techniques

SEIU Local 615, a 17,000 member local out of Boston, MA, has proposed webcasting its upcoming negotiations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). See the story here.

Steve Dondley's blog
1402 reads

AFL-CIO and National Labor College Launches Online Degree Program

Submitted by Steve Dondley on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 7:47am

Resources and tools

Big news hit the New York Times yesterday that the AFL-CIO and the National Labor College were joining together to launch the "first and only accredited degree-granting online institution devote exclusively to educating union members."

Steve Dondley's blog
2529 reads

Why the National Writers Union Called a Digital Media Conference

Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 11:17pm

New idea

On October 16th and 17th, I organized a Digital Media Conference at Northeastern University under the auspices of the National Writers Union Boston Chapter - and my online metro news publication, Open Media Boston - to address a growing list of changes in the creative industries that are making it increasingly difficult for creative workers like writers to make a living. The situation is even worse for those many creators that are freelancers. Or to put it in labor terms, those creators that are contingent workers. Because one major problem that the labor movement has not yet been able to deal with in a comprehensive way is the resurgance of contingent work (a.k.a. contract work, indpendent contracting, temp work, day labor, etc.) in the modern economy. As labor's power has waned over the last 4 decades, our movement has lost the ability to control core labor markets enough to ensure basic labor standards for most workers. And we are being pushed to return to 19th century labor conditions by large corporations in ways that are very hard to defend against.

Jason Pramas's blog
3061 reads

Cloud Computing: Should Labor Push It or Roll Our Own?

Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 9:13pm

Many of the technologies I've discussed here at Communicate or Die over the last year are primary accessed as online services - available for free or cheap for use by the general public. This may seem like an odd thing to do on a company blog. Even one run by a unionized and pro-labor technology company like Prometheus Labor Communications. But the main mandate that my boss, Steve Dondley, gave me for CorD was to explore technologies of interest to the labor movement. And it's virtually impossible to do that without talking about various online services ... some, but not all, of which offer functionalities that compete with some of the services we offer our clients on the Drupal website we build for them. And most of which are owned by large corporations that we have serious problems with as a group of folks with strong labor backgrounds.

Jason Pramas's blog
4200 reads

Google Books Aims to Free Readers, Screw Writers

Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 10:05pm

Critiques

For several years, Google - the search engine giant - has been scanning books in major libraries around the world, converting the scans to searchable text, and allowing users around the world the ability to scan the content of what is now millions of books for free. Great you might think. More power to them.

But not from the perspective of union writers. Yes, you heard me right. Union writers. Many of you may not be aware that writers of all kinds have had a union in the U.S. since 1981 - the National Writers Union - which has been part of the United Auto Workers since the early 1990s as Local 1981.

The NWU is the main American writers organizations that approaches the publishing industry as an industry and writers as working people. As such, it takes positions sometimes at variance with other writers organizations. The Google Books situation is precisely one of those issues.

Jason Pramas's blog
4175 reads

Get a user account today! Just checking out Communicate or Die for the first time? No need to be a lurker, sign up for a user account and participate in our growing virtual community. Act before midnight tonight, and receive a free toaster! [Toaster not included.] Hey! We're back ... ... with a new look and better technology under the hood! We also have a new paid site admin and blog contributor, Jason Pramas who will be working to build our community.		Recent posts Looking for fresh content? All recent posts To get the most from this feature, you should register and log in. Your blog Did you know that as a registered member of the Communicate or Die community you receive your own blog with its own RSS feed? Register and help build our community. Who's new sarahtim29 summers17C paul842a Kathsmiy12 mike567d ryanson27 Active forum topics blog aggregator Networking NEW DESIGNS Pro Union printed American made Tshirts Why won't blog entries post? Seniority vs. lost wages more Social Networking Visit us on: Facebook MySpace Twitter
User login Username: * Password: * Create new account Request new password Recent blog posts Do Webcams Belong at the Negotiating Table? One Union Thinks So AFL-CIO and National Labor College Launches Online Degree Program Why the National Writers Union Called a Digital Media Conference Cloud Computing: Should Labor Push It or Roll Our Own? Google Books Aims to Free Readers, Screw Writers A Labor Day Reminder of CREDO’s Own Credibility Gap... Appeals court backs union curbs on the internet CWA "Speed Matters" Report Avoids Key Telecom Issues Facing Working Families Restarting Communicate or Die AFL-CIO Offers Virtual Unemployment Lifeline to American Workers more Syndicate	Do Webcams Belong at the Negotiating Table? One Union Thinks So Submitted by Steve Dondley on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 2:23pm Best practices and techniques SEIU Local 615, a 17,000 member local out of Boston, MA, has proposed webcasting its upcoming negotiations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). See the story here. » Steve Dondley's blog 1402 reads AFL-CIO and National Labor College Launches Online Degree Program Submitted by Steve Dondley on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 7:47am Resources and tools Big news hit the New York Times yesterday that the AFL-CIO and the National Labor College were joining together to launch the "first and only accredited degree-granting online institution devote exclusively to educating union members." » Steve Dondley's blog 2529 reads Why the National Writers Union Called a Digital Media Conference Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 11:17pm New idea On October 16th and 17th, I organized a Digital Media Conference at Northeastern University under the auspices of the National Writers Union Boston Chapter - and my online metro news publication, Open Media Boston - to address a growing list of changes in the creative industries that are making it increasingly difficult for creative workers like writers to make a living. The situation is even worse for those many creators that are freelancers. Or to put it in labor terms, those creators that are contingent workers. Because one major problem that the labor movement has not yet been able to deal with in a comprehensive way is the resurgance of contingent work (a.k.a. contract work, indpendent contracting, temp work, day labor, etc.) in the modern economy. As labor's power has waned over the last 4 decades, our movement has lost the ability to control core labor markets enough to ensure basic labor standards for most workers. And we are being pushed to return to 19th century labor conditions by large corporations in ways that are very hard to defend against. » Jason Pramas's blog 3061 reads Cloud Computing: Should Labor Push It or Roll Our Own? Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 9:13pm Critiques New idea Many of the technologies I've discussed here at Communicate or Die over the last year are primary accessed as online services - available for free or cheap for use by the general public. This may seem like an odd thing to do on a company blog. Even one run by a unionized and pro-labor technology company like Prometheus Labor Communications. But the main mandate that my boss, Steve Dondley, gave me for CorD was to explore technologies of interest to the labor movement. And it's virtually impossible to do that without talking about various online services ... some, but not all, of which offer functionalities that compete with some of the services we offer our clients on the Drupal website we build for them. And most of which are owned by large corporations that we have serious problems with as a group of folks with strong labor backgrounds. » Jason Pramas's blog 4200 reads Google Books Aims to Free Readers, Screw Writers Submitted by Jason Pramas on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 10:05pm Critiques For several years, Google - the search engine giant - has been scanning books in major libraries around the world, converting the scans to searchable text, and allowing users around the world the ability to scan the content of what is now millions of books for free. Great you might think. More power to them. But not from the perspective of union writers. Yes, you heard me right. Union writers. Many of you may not be aware that writers of all kinds have had a union in the U.S. since 1981 - the National Writers Union - which has been part of the United Auto Workers since the early 1990s as Local 1981. The NWU is the main American writers organizations that approaches the publishing industry as an industry and writers as working people. As such, it takes positions sometimes at variance with other writers organizations. The Google Books situation is precisely one of those issues. » Jason Pramas's blog 4175 reads 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next › last »

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