STRONGER UNIONS

Here’s my dilemma…
Yesterday we ran out of coffee in the office (well we ran out the proper stuff, I don’t count decaffeinated as coffee in the same way that Kaliber is not a lager), so I was forced to go out to a local coffee shop for my daily fix.
The nearest,and frankly best, coffee shop to [...]

Filed under: Multinationals, Unions, organising | | 1 Comment »

Just a union you can believe in!
So goes the (pretty good I think) strap line of Equity’s new campaign to coincide with the forthcoming panto season. Equity is the UK union that organises artists in professional entertainment. This includes singers, actors, dancers, directors, stage managers, radio and TV presenters etc.
Today I’ve been doing an organising [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | | 1 Comment »

A combination of a glitchy wifi connection at the hotel and a pretty heavy schedule have prevented me posting as promised on the Leading Change Class of 2008 visit to Cambridge, MA.
But now its Sunday morning and there’s time to cover a few highlights and make another promise.
From speaking to the group, the undoubted highlight [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | | No Comments »

I was interested to read in the paper this week that Obama owns the internet when it comes to winning the election campaign. It seems that the use of this medium was due to the hostility of the US media to the centre left and hence the use of the internet in the US as [...]

Filed under: Events, Social networking, Uncategorized, Unions | | 1 Comment »

I’m off to Boston tomorrow, standing in for Paul Nowak taking this years Leading Change group over to the US leg of the programme.
We are being hosted by Elaine Bernard of the Harvard University Labor and Worklife programme and over the two days of the session will be treated to contributions from a great [...]

Filed under: Leading Organising | | 1 Comment »

A friend sent me this - very funny but making a serious point.

Send a personalised one to your friends in the States here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | | No Comments »

The TUC is pleased to announce the full list of TU Education Centres who will be Activist AcademyCentre’s of Organising and Recruitment Excellence (COREs) and also initial dates of Activist Academy programmes running at the participating centres - vist the TUC website Activist Academy page for a full list of CORE contacts and programme dates.
The [...]

Filed under: Activist Academy, Organising Academy, Union reps, Unions | | No Comments »

“The classic English gentleman abroad: It’s David Niven. It’s Stuart Grainger. It’s Nigel Havers. The look - Imperial Leisure. Offset that look with those four summer reliables - hat, cravat, summer spectacles and, for that touch of class, the Organising Academy Polo Shirt.”
(with apologies to Alan Partridge)
Are you a sartorially challenged union organiser, looking for [...]

Filed under: Organising Academy, Uncategorized, Unions | | 2 Comments »

“Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”
The above is [...]

Filed under: International unions, Uncategorized | | 1 Comment »

The evidence that union mergers make (the new) unions more effective and create additional resources for organising and recruitment is not (yet!) as convincing as the case to be made for individual unions with shared interests working together more closely.
This post on the blog of Jon Rogers, Unison National Executive member comments on the potential for [...]

Filed under: Unions | | No Comments »