Blogs

Recently the AFL-CIO launched a new site called Unemployment Lifeline that uses modern social media to provide a place for laid-off American workers to get some help and to connect - often for the first time - to the labor movement.

The surprisingly colorful and attractive site (sorry, but as someone involved in building labor websites, I notice that many union leaders ask for, shall we say, plain design concepts) offers a variety of ways for people to get involved with actions for national health reform and against giveaways to big business. It also provides forums where unemployed folks can talk with each other and compare notes, a calendar of relevant events nationwide, and a resource page where people can turn for human services and legal advice.

A recent article from Union Democracy Review on efforts by SEIU and MEBA (Marine Engineers Benevolent Association) to block "objectionable" and "irresponsible" speech raises the question: what's really objectionable?

Diigo: A Web 2.0 tool to get user input on your website

Last month, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters made cutting-edge use of the free streaming video service UStream - which I believe we here at Prometheus Labor Communications had turned them onto last fall - to a live broadcast of a debate between their aircraft industry organizers and leadership of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Organization. The event was called to help inform workers in an Oregon-based unit that is trying to decert from AMFA (translation for non-union folks: leave their old union) and join the Teamsters. Very interesting from both a technology perspective and a union democracy perspective.

Here's a site that's posting videos of its members - a nice idea, as it'll encourage their workmates to visit the site too!

http://www.seiu888.org/news/channel888/Default.aspx

The web is a funny place. For the first time in history all sides of pretty much any debate you can think of are present in the same medium with similar ability to ascertain what every other side is up to strategically at any given time. In English, I mean that for the first time in human history it is possible for working people to watch the watchers ... or more to the point, the bosses.

So as I trolled around my various social networking sites I happened upon an alert about an upcoming event at nearby Harvard Law School. It said that a bunch of corporate and military types descend on the place every few months for a special two-day session called "Dealing with an Angry Public" sponsored by Harvard Law's Program on Negotiation.

Interesting study from Ball State:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.92e661444313b232e8931de00c29...

"Adult Americans spend an average of more than eight hours a day in front of screens -- televisions, computer monitors, cellphones or other devices, according to a new study.

"The study also found that live television in the home continues to attract the greatest amount of viewing time with the average American spending slightly more than five hours a day in front of the tube.

"The figure drops to 210 minutes a day of average TV viewing time among 18-24 year olds but rises to 420 minutes a day among those aged 65 and older"...

"-- computer video consumption tends to be quite small with an average time of just over two minutes a day."

In January of this year the Economic Polity Institute issued a report called “The Employee Free Choice Act/ Questions and Answers.” The authors, Ross Eisenbrey and David Kusnet started the paper by stating, “For more than 70 years, the nation’s labor laws have proclaimed that working Americans’ right to join a union is a fundamental freedom, just like the rights to speak or worship. Indeed the freedoms to form unions and bargain with employers follow from other basic American rights – freedom of association and petitioning for the redress of grievances.”

In my web-trolling for this blog, I happened upon mention on a Department of Labor Grant Program called Technology-Based Learning Grants in a Reuters release of a government press release. The purpose of the grants, according to (the thankfully) ex-Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, is to "increase workers' access to skills training through the Internet, video teleconferencing and other technology-based learning media." In the 2008 cycle, the DOL gave out $10,000,000 under the program.

But funny thing, not a plug nickel of that money seems to have gone to labor unions - many of which, I do hear tell, have just these kinds of skills training programs for their members and even for non-members in some cases.

ArsTechnica, one of my favorite tech news sites, has been reporting for some months now that the much-hyped One Laptop Per Child project has fallen on hard times. This is interesting news for labor techies ... although a little background is in order to explain why.

OLPC was announced at the ever labor-friendly (not) World Economic Forum in 2005. The concept was straightforward - create a small laptop that can be cheaply mass produced and sold to the governments of poor countries for $100 per unit to distribute to schoolchildren and help close the "digital divide."

A couple of months ago at a talk at MIT on social media, I made a point that in a down economy, we should not assume that all the nifty free services we've all come to expect on the web are going to remain free forever. After all, only 10 years ago we still had to pay to have simple listservs and forums. We had nothing like YouTube or Twitter or Facebook and so on.

Yet we know that the business model companies have built many of these major services on - and they are, alas, mostly corporate run at this point - has been advertising-based. That is, these companies offer a service to users like us for "free," but hope to turn a profit based on selling advertising to other companies.

Portland, Oregon  February 20,21,22   or on the interweb

UnionCamp Web 2.0 is an open space unconference that is self-organized.

We invite you to participate in person if  you can and remotely as interested.

your invitation here at UnionCamp Web 2.0

Best, Mark

p.s. I am trying Diigo.com !

Friends -- I am leading a collaborative review/assessment of the AUD website, using diigo (http://diigo.com -- if you want to participate email me via CorD). One item that called out for help from the CorD community is the handout on "Cyber-democracy for unionists: your legal rights online." What I'm looking for is feedback on this handout -- is the info useful? clear? relevant? does it answer the questions you or other union webstewards have about their rights? What's missing? What questions do you want to see answered? Thanks in advance for your help!

Help needed for AUD website review using Diigo -- an online bookmarking/annotation website.

As 2008 draws to a close, I just wanted to say that it's great to see Communicate or Die going strong. Part of the reason is that Steve and I post here regularly, and a growing group of members do too. However, there are lots of folks we haven't heard from yet, and we'd really like to in the weeks and months to come.