General news

from http://ibew2222.org/ :

From Union Democracy Review, #180 www.uniondemocracy.org

The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has upheld a union rule that places new burdens on candidates who want to use their own independent web sites to campaign for union office. The court's decision gives the green light to those nervous union officials who hope to develop new ways to limit the potential of the internet as an instrument for union democracy.

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.”

Laetitia Mailhes sums up the ways unionists are using the internet to revitalize the labor movement. Dondley becomes a PDG!

http://www.lesechos.fr/management/actu/4808435-les-syndicalistes-america...

Last year, I wrote about ustream.tv, a service that allows you to broadcast webcast yourself live on the Internet for free. It appears unions are latching on to the technology. In just a couple of hours, the Teamsters International union will be placing a live feed for a hearing about the problems workers at Federal Express are facing. Watch it here, today, December 16, at 6pm EST.

Update: The hearing is over.

This is the updated schedule of panels, workshops and participants at Labortech 2008 which will be held in San Francisco on

December 5,6&7 at the University of San Francisco

www.labortech.net

Hi all.  I've been missing in action on this site for quite a while but I've recently decided to contribute again.  I get tired of talking (theory) and made a personal decision to start doing (practice).  It's nice to have ideas but they eventually need to be battle tested. 

Hi, I've been absent from this site for awhile and recently decided to catch up and write some posts.

(From Union Democracy Review #175
http://uniondemocracy.org/UDR/179-Union_officers_uncomfortable_with_free...)

The cases of retired Marine Engineer Paul Norman and EMS Helicopter pilot Mike Cheek, who were banned from official union online forums, reflect the growing importance of the internet as a new space for member participation and the contrary efforts of union leaders to limit discussion to what they consider acceptable.

Labourtech Canada will be held in Toronto on November 7, 8 & 9 and will include labor communicators and labor media activists from throughout Canada.

Labortech 2008 will be having it's semi-annual conference this coming December 5, 6 &7 in San Francisco at the University of San Francisco. The conference brings together labor media, technology and communication activists from throughout the US.

September 25 – Senator Feingold introduces legislation to require reasonable suspicion when DHS searches laptops or similar electronic equipment at the border.