I was interested to read in the paper this week that Obama owns the internet when it comes to winning the election campaign. It seems that the use of this medium was due to the hostility of the US media to the centre left and hence the use of the internet in the US as an effective alternative  for campaigning; leading to the prolific use of blogs and online sites such as youtube.

In the UK trade unions and the centre left have under- utilised these mediums for expressing views and campaigning on issues. This poses a couple of questions, firstly, is this because the media is less hostile in the UK than in the US?(I doubt it) and that is why we don’t need to use it as much as we should  Or, secondly, because we are unsure about how to go about using it effectively?

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Posted on October 31st, 2008 by Anna filed under: Union news, Unions online

I’m off to Boston tomorrow, standing in for Paul Nowak taking this years Leading Change group over to the US leg of the programme.

We are being hosted by Elaine Bernard of the Harvard University Labor and Worklife programme and over the two days of the session will be treated to contributions from a great range of speakers including; Steve Greenhouse of the New York Times and Marshall Ganz who worked with Cesar Chavez organising farm workers and is currently a lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard.

We’ll also be hearing from Kris Rondeau who was involved in the seminal campaign to organise the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers and Erik Peterson who was a friend of the great Paull Wellstone, managed a number of gubernatoral races and has helped develpp and lead a number of influential community coalitions. He’s also been a union rep and organiser.

On the Saturday a number of the group are heading up to New Hampshire to spend the day with some union locals working on the Obama campaign.

I’ll be posting throughout the trip.

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Posted on October 28th, 2008 by Carl Roper filed under: Union organising

In my job you get to travel quite a bit and visit numerous trade union premises.  One thing that has always struck me is just how ubiquitous the pictures and posters are that you find displayed on the walls of UK trade union offices(Spanish Civil War, Women Workers etc). 

The Northland Poster Collective is  an online gallery and catalogue store from where you can buy some excellent posters and art work, all related to organising and the labour movement.  Having bought from them myself previously, I can recommend them.  The picture on the right is an example of what you can get!

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Posted on October 28th, 2008 by Carl Roper filed under: Union organising

A friend sent me this - very funny but making a serious point.

Send a personalised one to your friends in the States here.

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Posted on October 27th, 2008 by Carl Roper filed under: Global solidarity

The TUC is pleased to announce the full list of TU Education Centres who will be Activist AcademyCentre’s of Organising and Recruitment Excellence (COREs) and also initial dates of Activist Academy programmes running at the participating centres – vist the TUC website Activist Academy page for a full list of CORE contacts and programme dates.

The COREs will be based at;

• Newcastle College
• East Riding College, Hull
• Park Lane College, Leeds
• South Birmingham College, Birmingham
• South Nottingham College, Nottingham
• Lewisham College, London
• Ruskin College, Oxford
• The Manchester College, Manchester
• Wirral Met College, Liverpool
• City College, Plymouth
• Bridgend College, Bridgend
• Stow College, Glasgow

The Activist Academy is aimed at union reps and activists who want additional skills and resources to build stronger unions in their workplace or branch by recruiting new members and new activists. 

To get on an Activist Academy programme, applicants must have a workplace or branch based  campaign or project that allows them the chance to recruit new members and activists and raise the profile of the union in the workplace.  They must also be supported by their union who must nominate a mentor who will support them through the training.

Activist Academy programmes will usually last 6-days and be delivered via three, two-day blocks usually over a period of about 3 months.

For more information about the Activist Academy, visit the TUC website or email activistacademy@tuc.org.uk

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Posted on October 27th, 2008 by Carl Roper filed under: Union organising, Union reps

“The classic English gentleman abroad: It’s David Niven. It’s Stuart Grainger. It’s Nigel Havers. The look – Imperial Leisure. Offset that look with those four summer reliables – hat, cravat, summer spectacles and, for that touch of class, the Organising Academy Polo Shirt.”

(with apologies to Alan Partridge)

"We don't do roll-necks, but we do do Polo Shirts!"

Are you a sartorially challenged union organiser, looking for something ‘smart but casual’ to wear to work? You are? Then you need to buy a TUC Organising Academy polo shirt. Produced to mark our 10th anniversary, and sourced from 100% union friendly supplier Ethical Threads, the Academy polo shirt is a must have for any union organiser or activist’s wardrobe. You can buy direct from the TUC web-site here. They come in 3 unisex sizes (M, L and XL) and a fantastic ‘Henry Ford’ like range of colours – i.e black, midnight black, panther black etc…

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Posted on October 24th, 2008 by Paul Nowak filed under: Union organising

“Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”

The above is an extract from a speech given by John McCain at a rally in Virginia as reported here in the Washington Post.  Anyone familiar with the practice of union busters in US recognition ballots will know that this is very disingenuous and that by the time many workers get to vote in labor elections, they’ve usually endured a pretty heavy campaign of intimidation and scare tactics. 

The following were the findings of a study of union organising campaigns by Cornell University;

• Ninety-two percent of private-sector employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; 80 percent require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking unions; and 78 percent require that supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.
• Seventy-five percent hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.
• Half of employers threaten to shut down partially or totally if employees join together in a union.
• In 25 percent of organizing campaigns, private-sector employers illegally fire workers because they want to form a union.
• Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of the instances, employers do not negotiate a contract.

You can find out more why secret ballots in the context of labor elections don’t work - here.

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Posted on October 22nd, 2008 by Carl Roper filed under: Global solidarity