Submitted by x344543 on Fri, 07/14/2006 - 3:26am
The Industrial Workers of the World uses the Internet extensively to get the word out about its projects, including organizing Starbucks employees. “We find the Internet has been a wonderful tool for outreach, education, and information,” says Mark Damron, general secretary and treasurer of the IWW. “In the U.S., a shop cannot disallow organizing activity, but the Internet provides a good anonymous way for someone who is worried their workplace may frown upon union-organizing work.”
Todd Jordan could have taken to the streets to air his grievances with America’s bankrupt giant automotive parts maker, Delphi. But he’s got a better place to picket—online.
Mr. Jordan, a 29-year-old, third-generation autoworker, runs a blog called Futureoftheunion.com to keep rank and file Delphi employees informed about the latest developments in the company. The site is run by Mr. Jordan out of an office plastered with Che Guevara posters in Kokomo, Indiana.
Apart from serving as a rallying point for Delphi workers, the site calls for sweeping change within the United Auto Workers union. “It allows people not only to keep up to date on things important to them, but also enables workers to connect with each other who would otherwise not be able to,” says Mr. Jordan, a card-carrying UAW man who worked at Delphi’s Kokomo plant for nearly seven years. Mr. Jordan, who uses his blog to press for greater worker control of the union, says in a posting that he has “made a few enemies.”
Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 05/23/2006 - 2:09pm
PR WATCH - The new industry-funded front group from lobbyist Rick Berman, the Center for Union Facts, has launched its first TV ad campaign. The 30-second spot, running on Fox News and local markets, has "actors posing as workers" saying "sarcastically what they 'love' about unions," like paying dues, union leaders' "fat-cat lifestyles," and discrimination against minorities. The ad campaign cost $3 million, which was raised "from companies, foundations and individuals that Mr. Berman won't identify."
Another TV ad will be filmed in June. Labor and economics professor Harley Shaiken said the effort "to create an anti-union atmosphere" more generally, as opposed to business-funded ads against a particular union organizing drive or strike, "is a new wrinkle."
Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 04/18/2006 - 8:01pm
This is an AFL-CIO campaign; it is reposted here in solidarity.
KGTV, Channel 10, promises to be "on your side." But they are not on the side of their own employees. Engineers, Technicians, Directors, Photographers, Editors and Artists have been trying to negotiate a fair contract with Channel 10. These are the same people who bring you 10News, The 10NewsChannel (24-hour news coverage) and Azteca America (Cable 15), as well as your favorite ABC shows.
Read more about this campaign and take action: http://www.10newsunfair.com/
Submitted by x344543 on Sat, 04/01/2006 - 9:38pm
The State of Utah is going fully corporate under a new law (HB109) that creates a new Department of Technology Services (DTS) and changes the status of all new hires to exempt or non-merit so called schedule AT employees. "AT" or "exempt" employees are different than the current "schedule B" or "career service employees" such as myself in the rights they have to their jobs and in hiring and firing decisions. The "exempt" employee status means that, "
works at the will and pleasure of the employing agency and can be released from their appointment at any time without explaination or just cause." Fellow worker Raphael C and many thousands of her co-workers coming under the employment rules and change in structure to DTS received a threatening memo from management dated April 3, 2006. In effect this memo attempts to extort existing Information Technology Services employees to voluntarily give up their schedule B, career service employee status, moving to AT or "exempt" employment status in exchange for a 3 step pay increase. The memo in effect threatens existing career service employees when it states that, "There are two ways that this conversion will take place.
Submitted by x344543 on Sat, 04/01/2006 - 8:31pm
The State of Utah is going fully corporate under a new law (HB109) that creates a new Department of Technology Services (DTS) and changes the status of all new hires to exempt or non-merit so called schedule AT employees. "AT" or "exempt" employees are different than the current "schedule B" or "career service employees" such as myself in the rights they have to their jobs and in hiring and firing decisions. The "exempt" employee status means that, "works at the will and pleasure of the employing agency and can be released from their appointment at any time without explaination or just cause."
Fellow worker Raphael C and many thousands of her co-workers coming under the rules and management of the new DTS received a threatening memo from management dated April 3, 2006. In effect this memo attempts to extort existing Utah State Information Technology Services employees to voluntarily give up their schedule B, career service employee status, moving to AT or exempt employment status in exchange for a 3 step hourly pay increase. The memo reprinted below in effect threatens existing career service employees when it states that, "There are two ways that this conversion will take place.
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