UnionBook Frolics

UnionBook continues to pick up steam. Not only are the reviews uniformly good, but the numbers are steadily growing. We'll likely see 2,000 by next week.

A few groups, like the one created for members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, are really booming. Ditto the Labour Films and Podcasting groups.

I have two favourites. The Pin/Badge Traders group is a reasonable size, but more importantly has already netted me a pile o'pins. Comrades in Australia and the UK have mailed me some and I had the pleasure of getting an American sister off to a flying start with a trader's starter kit.

Doing not nearly so well is a group I started, the Union Builders of Model Airplanes group. Two members, myself and an old friend and co-worker there with me out of pity I think.

Still, while I post mostly conversations with myself, there are some fine photos of recent projects available in the group's forum. And I must say the conversation is positively brilliant. :-)

E-Recording Our History

The labour movement is more often making history than celebrating it. Making our history accessible is one thing, making that historical record something we can all contribute to is something the web (in it’s 2.0 version) has made possible.

http://www.activism.ca/ is the online place to record the history of your union’s struggles (or anyone else’s for that matter).

The site is a Wiki, meaning (like the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org) it is a collaborative effort amongst everyone who signs up. You can not only enter information about, say, your local’s recent strike, but you can contribute to articles on broader topics. So, for example, if your union has recently had an organizing or health and safety victory, you can enter the story of those victories in topic areas covering union organizing or workplace health and safety. Link the stories of your union’s struggles on your site.