Is there a good reason for me to take the time, copy to a word file, delete the addreses, and then read it?
Carrol
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Jason Bacasa
> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:21 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: [lbo-talk] @labor: Scabby, BLS Numbers, Alt-Labor and Why Workers
> and Labor Need to Get Online
>
> http://unionosity.com/featured/labor/
>
> @labor
> by Jason Bacasa
>
> On January 23 of this year, Scabby the Rat, a 16 foot tall rodent first
inflated
> in 1990 by protesting Chicago bricklayers, had a scare. Sean McGarvey
> (@BCTDPrez), president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades
> Department, took to Twitter following a meeting with presidents and state
> councils to address his 488 followers: "Issued a call to retire the
inflatable rat.
> It does not reflect our new value proposition." Jill Cashen,
Communications
> Director for United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) responded
> favorably @BCTDPrez and to her 387 followers, notching up the rhetoric to
> #deflatetherat.
>
> On January 24, @ScabbyTheRat (7,737 followers) who reports on "anti-labor
> activity no matter where it happens" had a day in the sun, albeit it a
busy
> one. Catapulted by Mike Elk (@MikeElk, 10,278 followers) - perhaps labor's
> most dedicated and voracious Tweeter - and his story from In These Times,
> @ScabbyTheRat tweeted 28 times, up 933% from the rat's typical day of
> social networking. Among them, @ScabbyTheRat pleaded to #SaveScabby.
>
> A week or so later, with no confirmed sightings of the Scabby, a wishful
> suspicion finds Scabby just as we left her, in a warehouse, gently swaying
in
> the winter draft and waiting to be called upon. Daniel Wright
(@DanSWright,
> 595 followers), a contributor to Firedoglake (@firedoglake, 13, 584
followers),
> offered a no-less plausible and far funnier alternative: "[m]aybe it was
> Scabby's idea to leave the AFL-CIO, rats know how to leave sinking ships."
> (More from Wright later.) True or not, McGarvey, or at least @BCTDPrez,
> must have had second thoughts about his value proposition - the original
> tweet has disappeared into the Twittersphere. (And not lost down a feed,
> but lost all together. Gone. Deleted.) All and all, disaster averted.
Right?
>
> Amid the chatter of Scabby, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, @BLS_gov,
> 8,577 followers) released its 2012 Union Members Summary. The findings
> (whether read on paper or across a variety of digital media) left labor to
> ponder sobering statistics for unions, workers and a precarious middle
class.
> Union membership dipped to 11.3% (the lowest since the Great Depression),
> while 400,000 workers were squeezed from unionized positions. The
> summary did share a couple of silver linings, some surprising: union
> membership rose in the southern states of Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky,
> Louisiana and Oklahoma. (Weird.) More predictable was California's
> strongish showing, whose newly added 100,000 union members speak to the
> growing and empowered Latino communities - the very same population
> that helped spur President Obama to reelection.
>
> Sarita Gupta (@saritasgupta, 289 followers), Executive Director for Jobs
with
> Justice (@jwjnational, 7,774 followers) an organization that builds power
for
> working people via networks and coalitions, Huff-posted this on the BLS'
> stark findings: "At first glance, you might think these numbers indicate
that
> workers no longer want or need unions. In reality, workers are trying to
> organize, but outdated labor laws and anti-union employers are standing in
> their way."
>
> Without question, labor laws are behind the times, perhaps most obviously
> in their inability to protect - or even so much as account for - a growing
> temporary and contingent workforce. To these ends, Richard Kahlenberg
> (@RickKahlenberg, 384 followers) and Moshe Z. Marvit (@MosheMarvit, 54
> followers; he is quite new to Twitter) offer a much needed cry for labor
to
> extend beyond a dated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB, @NLRB, 4,539
> followers) as a means of avoiding "a year's hard work being undone in a
> single day." And while their call for a civil right to organize is bold
and
> necessary, if not controversial, it can serve in the short run as nothing
more
> than a spark and a talking point in an effort to spur policy reform that
would
> better tackle labor's priorities. (Should legislation ever be amended to
> include it, my thirty-something hair will either be grey or totally gone.
Or
> perhaps in the year 2054, technology will render these distinctions
avoidable,
> impossible, or utterly pointless.)
>
> But while the realities for unionized labor are daunting, what the numbers
> can't or won't show are where organizing and working people are making
> exciting and impressive inroads. Alongside the victory of the Chicago
> Teachers, there was no bigger labor story in 2012 than Walmart associates
> staging a nationwide Black Friday action on the heels of the very first
strikes
> against the retail giant (@Walmart, 308,955 followers). Similarly,
warehouse
> workers caught in the unjust and 100 degree thoroughfare of a Walmart
> supply chain made themselves heard and seen (Warehouse Workers United,
> @wwunited, 1,559 followers) by walking off the job and then continuing to
> walk literally 50 miles more from the warehouses in Ontario, California to
Los
> Angeles City Hall (all the while cutting into corporate profits, however
small).
> Effective actions such as these extended into the realm of fast food
workers,
> taxi drivers, port truck drivers and car washeros, all looking for a
better living
> and an updated assessment of fairness.
>
> Kenzo Shibata (@KenzoShibata, 6,320 followers) the New Media Specialist
> (and that term is important) of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU, @CTULocal1,
> 7694 followers) was the man behind the social media efforts that helped
> enhance solidarity around Chicago teachers during their September strike.
> He commends CTU leaders for being progressive enough to change his title
> from Publications Editor. Days after the strike began, CTU boasted 16,000
> new followers on Facebook. Furthermore, Shibata was able to help ignite
> #CTUStrike and #FairContractNow to Twitter's top two trends on September
> 10, 2012, the day teachers walked off the job.
>
> Just as the BLS' numbers can't reflect the efforts of people like Shibata,
they
> cannot show the fruits of how those arguing outside of collective
bargaining
> are getting it done. Using innovative and non-traditional techniques, not
to
> mention their strong online presences, groups like OurWalmart
> (@ForRespect, 1,822 followers), Making Change at Walmart
> (@ChangeWalmart, 3,227 followers) and ROC-United (@rocunited, 1,803
> followers) were able to turn pre-majority strikes into lasting and ongoing
> efforts, emboldening frightened workers unaware of their rights.
Similarly,
> #WalmartStrikers also jettisoned to the very top of Twitter's trending
topics.
>
> Furthermore, technology has successfully contributed to defeating poorly
> worded ballot propositions aimed at limiting unions' relevance and
influence.
> In California, the California Labor Federation (@CaliforniaLabor, 10,164
> followers) testifies to the power of #NoOn32 and the enthusiasm found once
> traditional TV ads were abandoned for outreach done over via Facebook and
> Twitter. Suddenly, a younger generation was engaged in a format that they
> have trouble keeping their eyes off and their hands from updating. A
similar
> story can be said for Ohio's beating back of SB5.
>
> But Michigan tells a different story. Unions went big (and many would say
> "too big") with Prop 2, a proposal that would have amended the state's
> constitution to labor's benefit. After Michigan supporters couldn't get
the job
> done (or at least the word out), relying heavily on TV ads to drive home
their
> message, a deafening silence fell over the world of labor on election
night.
> This silence would grow deeper in December, when right-to-work legislation
> was rammed through the Michigan house. While many cried "lame-duck," an
> objective outsider might have remarked on the lack of organization in the
> state. With the success of Ohio's fight against SB5 just 300 miles away,
how
> could so much have gone so wrong? Surely there could have been a network
> of shared strategy.
>
> Back to Scabby. Regardless if she (or her online presence) remains an ally
of
> labor or not, the rat's greatest power wasn't in her buckteeth, bloodshot
eyes
> or a tummy with festering wounds. It was her innovation - finding a new,
> updated means of establishing visibility, voice and presence. Only later
would
> she reveal her silver lining: constituted as symbolic speech, and hence
not
> subjected to the laws and confines of traditional picketing, she could be
> present in picketers' absence.
>
> Everyday online, avatars of you, me and everyone (and sometimes several at
> once) are present in our literal absences. And this is either great,
crazy,
> preposterous, awesome, a waste of time, or the culmination of life's true
> singular purpose. You be the judge. Regardless, and no matter if you are
> young or old, social media is here and very real. (Or surreal. Or at least
> virtual.). While social media might be gross or inhumane to some (myself
> included, at least where Facebook is concerned), communication lines have
> rarely been as open as they are now.
>
> In a series of recent rulings, the NLRB declared that workers have a right
to
> discuss working conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether
> the discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook. This is a
wonderful
> thing, and it is to be cherished (while it lasts.The way things are going
- for
> labor, Aaron Swartz, Bradley Manning and otherwise - surely this privilege
> will cease to have its day).
>
> The ability to negotiate and be "seen" by employers is vital. But it is
becoming
> increasingly less feasible in the real world as employers are closing the
door
> on fairness, or at least all things union. Out of sight is out of mind. So
> perhaps the argument must be restated, or at least begun and reframed,
> where communication can actually take place. Profit-seekers love trends,
but
> must be cautious of trending - quips can spread like wildfire online, and
> before you know it, a major corporation might have a PR problem when their
> Twitter feed is riddled with calls for change.
>
> Lastly, while a reframing is in place, it should be clear by now that any
> discussion of the shrinking of unions (and hence, the middle class) spun
> around money will never convince employers interested in the bottom line.
> And perhaps the reason McGarvey's "value proposition" gained traction on
> Twitter in the first place was that he came off like he was accommodating
the
> corporate class.
>
> Here's Daniel Wright again:
>
> "This accommodation strategy is essentially Third Way economics,
> pretending labor unions are somehow both good for Capital and Labor -
> news flash: they aren't. That's why Capital has been trying and succeeding
at
> crushing Labor for the past 30 years. They don't want to pay higher wages
> and provide benefits they want to cut those costs so they can have higher
> profits."
>
> Just as labor is asking for the laws to get with the times, it is time for
unions
> to do the same. There are too many locals that go unaccounted for on
> Twitter and too many important people are missing an @ at the front of
> their names. This is a call to all workers, young and old, organized or
not,
> who care about respect, dignity and fair wages, to point your device (or
find a
> device at the local library, or get a device, or share a device, or make
up a
> device) and aim it at the people you care about, and against the people
who
> are eliminating the possibility of dignity in an honest day's pay. Of
course, old
> strategies (and print) cannot be foregone completely, as that only further
> excludes those already subjected to exclusion, but the responsibility must
> rest on the young (and young enough), the capable and the curious to
> advocate and educate in the digital realm.
>
> Perhaps "[i]ndependent journalist, [r]abblerouser and #classwar
instigator"
> Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe, 11,727 followers) said it best on Twitter:
"Dear
> labor folks: if your response to today's [BLS] statistics is anything
other than
> "ORGANIZE" you lose."
>
> I would add, "Online."
>
> And here's something to think about as you're trying to come up with a
> clever Twitter handle after you realize your first choice has been taken:
on
> Klout, a website that scores social influence, @ScabbyTheRat fares better
> than Richard Trumka (@RichardTrumka, 7,554 followers). And lastly (and
> unfortunately), workers everywhere should consider co-opting Corona beer.
> But only so long as you're of age, and drinking. Some prefer it with lime.
>
>
> Jason Bacasa
> Creative Director | Unionosity
> 415-412-5646 | jmb at unionosity.com | unionosity.com
>
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