Service Workers on Strike

Service Workers on Strike, originally uploaded by Brooke Anderson.

One of the finalists in this year's LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest. By Brooke Anderson.

Trade unions are fun!

Trade unions are fun!, originally uploaded by robertday154.

One of the finalists in this year's LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest. By Robert Day.

Swiss Railway Demonstration

Swiss Railway Demonstration, originally uploaded by integrierte.tomate.

One of the finalists in this year's LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest. By Integrierte Tomate.

Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike إضراب موظفي الضرائب العقارية

Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike إضراب موظفي الضرائب العقارية, originally uploaded by 3arabawy - صَحـَـفي مِصـْـري.

One of the finalists in this year's LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest. Hossam el-Hamalawy.

Freedom of Labour

Freedom of a Labour, originally uploaded by khaled_chobi.

One of the finalists in this year's LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest. By Khaled Chobi.

Quite Possibly the Best Pop Band There is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-j3XypNdmA

Blame John Wood and Despair.com

This guy, actually both of them, but I am referring to the minister, is just too photogenic to pass on.

Wal-Mart Closes Second Unionized Shop

Argh!

For full coverage in both languages, see LabourStart's Canada page:

http://www.labourstart.org/Canada

Test of My Flickr-to-Blog Facility, But Also A Fond Memory

IMG_3721, originally uploaded by dblackadder.

While waiting for friend Eric to show up so we could amble through Highgate Cemetery in search of the original burial spot of Karl Marx and Family (they were moved to the memorial location years after Karl croaked). A very fine day, a nice beer and the prospect of a visit with a bunch of dead commies (for those who haven't been, the memorial is surrounded by the graves of comrades)...one of those silly but very pleasant memories.

Thanks to Mac Urata for the directions to the original burial site.

Solidarity: Supporting Migrant Workers Organizing

Conference in Ottawa that includes a short (ha!) bit by your humble blogger re. online tools.

Details here:

http://www.jewittmorrison.ca/events.htm

I Will Not Obsess, I Will Not Obsess, I Will Not Obsess...

Following John Wood's tip, I've done one motivational (or something) poster, am trying to limit myself to no more than 20 a day...click on the image to enlarge it.

Australian Workers Union Website

Very impressive, features-rich:

http://www.awu.net.au/

I should Just Give Up and Leave the Field to John Wood

There are days when I think the only purpose my blog serves is to point people to other blogs.

This is one of those days.

http://www.johninnit.co.uk/2008/10/08/union-demotivators-meme/

Facebook Eat S^%t and D^e!

Less than 6 hours after re-joining the Bad Book, there I was, idly amusing myself collecting friends while on a conference call and it appeared: the dreaded 'stop being so friendly or we'll give you the boot' warning.

Minutes later, after I stopped friending, I received the same warning; only this time it's because I'm leaving too many messages on walls and such in regard to the upcoming LabourTech conference.

Bastards!

Ahhhh....just like old times. :-)

For more info on LabourTech 2008 see:

http://labourtech.ca/

I Like My Crow Well-done

I'm back on Facebook. I needed an account to demonstrate how trolling there can be useful for union organizers (mostly in the North American sense).

Friend me, I can't friend you or I'll run out of pseudonyms.

World Day for Decent Work

If you missed it, shame on you, but then you were probably working too hard/fast/long or looking for an opportunity for any kind of work.

http://www.wddw.org/

I found a few moments, whilst sitting at my desk, to join in with some of the leafletters and picketers and shouters and...well, you can get pretty creative when you can morph your body into a lean mean propaganda machine...on Second Life. The Union Island thereon to be specific.

I still lean towards thinking that SL is useful as a picket location for workers with an employer established there but that for the rest of us it's something of a circle-youknowwhat.

Still, it was fun and I had a chance to 'see' a couple of UNI and TUC folks I haven't 'seen' since the last SL demo. Mmmm...mebbe that means I'm going over the edge SL-wise. Over the top???

The day wasn't completely geeky: Meena Varma (Meena Turbo), Director of the Dalit Solidarity Network gave a talk on Union Island on the challenges facing casteless people in India in finding decent work. Meena's talk and a general report on the SL demo today are available on Second Life Unions at:

http://www.slunionisland.org/

Me, Ashamed and Thinking About Permission

An example of how pegging your work with a Creative Commons license can lead to unexpected and perhaps at least potentially unpleasant uses down the road.

http://www.centralamericadata.com/en/article/data/Honduran_maquilas_betting_on_Europe

The photo was taken during a factory inspection in Nicaragua a few years ago.

Equally disturbing but more to my taste ego-wise, the folks at Pellegrino have asked to use some of my photos of an Italian trip a few years ago.

Sigh. Is that a bird? A plane? No, it's my principles flying out the window.

The New CAW Website

The CAW has recently (5 years or so) been a bit of a trend-setter in its use of the web. Website-based video for example.

So the new CAW website is worth pondering over: www.caw.ca

A major shift in a number of ways. Take a gander.