Articles
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Webwork: New Model Website
In the last edition of WebWork I mentioned how employers were using workers, often union members, to project a positive corporate image on platforms like Facebook - a process that could be described as organizing an army of online supporters. The theme for this column came to me as I was listening in on preparations for the rally in London, Ontario, on January 21, in support of the locked-out workers at Electro-Motive Diesel, owned by Caterpillar. Like it or not, we do fall into using terms l… Keep reading…
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Justice For Aboriginal Peoples
It’s Time
“We want our kids to grow up to become whatever they want to be; to have fulfilling lives and not to be disadvantaged from the beginning,” says Mike Ballard, who works as a fishery officer field supervisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in Campbell River, B.C. A Métis, Ballard is speaking of the reasons behind the union campaign called “Justice for Aboriginal Peoples — It’s Time.” Keep reading…
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Why We Should Boycott Caterpillar
When Caterpillar locked out over 400 employees in London, Ontario on New Year’s Day 2012, it did not do so because it was unprofitable. In January 2012, Caterpillar reported a 58 per cent rise in quarterly earnings. Its retiring CEO received compensation in 2012 of $22.5 million and the new CEO in 2011 was paid $10.4 million. Caterpillar locked out its employees to show its power, and its unyielding opposition to unions and collective bargaining. It is setting up in Georgia in a non-union pla… Keep reading…
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Webwork: Facebook’s Making Money
Some days it feels like Facebook is taking over the world. Many more days like the one on which I put this column together and it’ll be hard to conclude it hasn’t.It’s always worth a bit of time to check in with the opposition to see what they’re doing and perhaps learn a few things in the process. What corporations are doing with platforms like Facebook is more than a little instructive, even if you don’t face them across the table. Take the “web volunteers” network, for example. Many… Keep reading…
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Social (justice!) Media
The week I start trying to speak with labour movement folks using social media in their work, no one is taking my calls. I try not to take it personally. After all, the Occupy Wall Street movement has just begun fanning out across Canada and my social media experts are very, very busy. Keep reading…
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What’s Wrong With Caterpillar?
Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union were locked out on New Year’s Day by Caterpillar Inc.‘s Electro-Motive Diesel in a callous display of corporate might, by a company that may be intending to leave Canada. The 465 CAW members in London, Ontario, voted by 97 per cent on December 30 for strike action and, 24 hours later, just as they were returning to jobs on New Year’s Eve following a holiday shutdown, they were locked out. Paul Bruder has worked at Electro-Motive… Keep reading…
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Webwork: Top Ten Tips For Unions Online
Top Ten lists are a cheap and easy out for an amateur journalist facing a deadline. On the flip side (is that an expression my grandkids would understand, or will it generate the same blank-faced reaction that making a dialling motion with an index finger does?), this is less a Top Ten list than a Bottom Ten list.In the current issue of Our Times, now in bookstores, you’ll read about some marvellous and exciting stuff that’s happening out there as unions and members grab hold of… Keep reading…
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Talking About My Generation
For some, the 58 hours that the opposition parties spent debating Bill C-6 were intended to stop Harper from forcing postal workers back to work with conditions worse than those initially proposed by their employer. For me, this debate represented the struggle of my generation for our future in the workforce. Keep reading…
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Webwork: Facebook Needs A New Button
I’m thinking it’s time for a global labour conference on social media, just on the principle that somebody has to do something to encourage more systematic use of platforms like Facebook. From the looks of things, only a few national unions have developed their Facebook presence. At the local union level there’s even less evidence of strategies based on an assessment of what FB does, and how.It’s the lack of knowledge about most basic FB stuff that concerns me the most, like the “choi… Keep reading…
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Workers Facing Anti-union Campaigns
Just how important we are to the healthcare system was brought home to me when some of our staff launched a union campaign. Management simply went crazy at our effort to organize. Keep reading…
