UnionBook Goes Public

From LabourStart:

LabourStart is pleased to announce the launch today of UnionBook - the social networking website for trade unionists.

Unlike other social networking sites, UnionBook (http://www.unionbook.org/) is advertising-free, respects your privacy, and is specifically designed to serve trade unionists.

UnionBook offers many features that you and your union will find useful. Among these are:

* Blogs - build your own blog today. Free, with no ads.

* Groups - create a group to support your union and your campaigns. Groups can have discussion forums and shared documents. They can be public or closed. They're a very powerful tool.

* Post your profile and sign up your friends.

And we're adding more features all the time.

We know that UnionBook will never be as big as the giant commercial networks like Facebook, but once we have several thousand trade unionists using it, I'm confident that it will become a powerful tool for our movement worldwide.

We're not telling anyone to stop using other social networks. If you are active in Facebook or any of the others, that's fine. But use UnionBook for your trade union activities and see how easy it is to build and form groups, and to publish content online.

Once you've signed up, you will receive an email from us - you must respond to this in order to confirm your email address and activate your account. Our email message may wind up in your junk mail folder - please keep an eye out for it.

Please spend some time on UnionBook.org and explore the possibilities.

And then spread the word -- because together, we can create something amazing here.

Thanks - Eric Lee

How Canada Post Censored Union Vids on YouTube

Yet more evidence of why the Labour Movement needs to be making better use of its own online resources rather than relying on commercial sites:

http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2009/01/27/YouTubeCensor/

Fine Article on Social Movements 2.0

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090202/smith_costello_brecher?rel=hp_currently

Tell the City of Ottawa to Return to the Table

ATU 279 has been on strike for 50 days against concessions demanded by the City of Ottawa. ATU members have already rejected those concessions in a vote conducted by the Ministry of Labour. Their bargaining committee has offered to refer those demands to mediation and arbitration, but the City has refused.

Canadian cities don't often engage in blatent union-busting, but this looks like one of those times. ATU and the Ottawa Labour Council are asking you to take 30 seconds (no more or your money back!) and send a message to Ottawa's Mayor and Council asking them to return to the table.

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=466

2009 Labour Website of the Year Contest

Voting is open. Simply go to the page below, vote your fave (after checking them out of course):

http://www.labourstart.org/lwsoty/2009/

UnionBook Still in Beta, But Getting Great Reviews

http://blog.comfia.net/webmaster/esindicato/2009/01/17/unionbook-la-red-social-internacional-para-sindicalistas.-no-es-facebook

http://www.pcsshropshire.selfip.org/newspage/?p=596

Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life!

Heard about the global campaign for atheist bus adverts to counter advertising by organized religions?

"There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" is appearing on buses across Europe, Australia and now Toronto.

Personally I'd rather Cobourg than Toronto, but perhaps it's best to start small and work up.

To contribute money towards the Toronto campaign go to:

http://atheistbus.ca/donate/

You can also use the site the suggest that the campaign be extended to include Cobourg...or your own home town for that matter.

Naomi Klein on the BDS Campaign

The sanest, plainest case for the BDS campaign I have seen. Read it here.

UnionBook is Here!

It won't replace Facebook for keeping in touch with the grandkids (nor is it intended to), but UnionBook is LabourStart's social networking site for the union-friendly worldwide.

Give it a spin.

Pretty Much All I Want to Post About Gaza

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html

They Do It Too

I think we're sometimes surprised when an employer or some other anti-union type uses the not-so-new-anymore media to organize against us. Something about still being stuck with the idea of the internet as an insurgent medium I think; somehow more ours than theirs.

Silly. A good way to get caught with our pants down.

This week CBC and SRC are reporting on OCTranspo's use of YouTube in trying to get their final offer through a forced vote.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2009/01/07/008-oc-transpo-youtube_n.shtml
and
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/01/07/ot-090107-transit.html

Meanwhile, back at the York U. strike, anti-union students are doing all kinds of interesting, if wrong-headed, things with Facebook, blogs and such.

UK Stop The War is in Facebook's Bad Book

The following was sent to folks on the Stop The War listserve in the UK:

Dear friends,

Facebook today deleted an event set up by the Stop the War Coalition publicising the 2nd national demonstration against Israel's attacks on Gaza, with no explanation. Around 20,000 people had been sent invites to this event.

Stop the War urges all supporters to do everything they can to build for this weekends demonstration, including inviting your contacts to this event again to ensure the biggest turn out on Saturday.

In solidarity,

Stop the War Coalition
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/