PENLers,
this is a great list. . .
Brian
From: Eric Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thu, 19 May 2005 17:26:29 +0100 Subject: Wal-Mart, workers and the web
In this week's mailing:
* Wal-Mart, workers and the web * Books for organizers and educators * Eritrea: Keep up the pressure
First of all, a very warm welcome to the 1,145 people who have joined this mailing list in the last seven days. Please encourage your fellow union members to join our list as well by going to http://www.labourstart.org/subscribeme.shtml
***
WAL-MART, WORKERS AND THE WEB
The world's largest private employer, Wal-Mart has a reputation for also being no friend of trade unions. The company is notorious for its union busting efforts. Most recently, it closed down the one Canadian Wal-Mart store whose workers had voted to have a union. Wal-Mart clearly does not like unions. That seems bad enough. But a few days ago, they showed their true face.
In an advertisement published in the USA, Wal-Mart compared its opponents (us) to Nazis. It did this by showing one of the famous photos of book-burning in Nazi Germany. Wal-Mart was claiming that its critics were undermining the fundamental human right of all people to -- shop at Wal-Mart. Coming close on the heels of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the ad revealed Wal-Mart's true colors. The right of workers to form a union, recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- that's not a human right. But the "right" to shop at Wal-Mart -- that's a human right. And anyone who says otherwise is a Nazi. The stupidity, the insensitivity, leaves one speechless.
Meanwhile, a number of North American and global union websites focussing on Wal-Mart have sprung up in recent weeks and we've published a short review of them here:
http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000116.html
LabourStart remains the best source of updated Wal-Mart news on the web, with its special page at:
http://www.labourstart.org/wal-mart
We also have two newswires which allow your union's website to have updated news about Wal-Mart every 15 minutes throughout the day, absolutely free of charge. (One is in JavaScript and the other is an RSS feed.) You can read more about this here:
http://www.labourstart.org/wal-mart/newswire.shtml
*** BOOKS FOR ORGANIZERS AND EDUCATORS
For more than three months now we've been featuring a "labour book of the day" every day on LabourStart's front page, http://www.labourstart.org
All those books come from Powells.com, the unionized bookshop in Portland, Oregon. It's a great collection, but we were disappointed to see that not all the really great union books were available from Powells. What we needed to find was a unionized bookshop that specialized in the kinds of books that union activists need.
We're pleased to say that we've now solved this problem, and we're making the books you need as organizers, activists and educators available to you.
Books like "A Troublemakers Handbook 2" (which we've already mentioned more than once). That's essential reading for trade unionists.
Or the "Contract Campaign Manual" -- which according to one review is an "absolutely must-have resource for unionists staring in the face of a fight for a first contract or the renewal of an existing agreement. Developed by the Service Employees International Union for its own leaders, its practical advice and sound methods will work in virtually any unionâs contract campaign."
Another example would be "Organizing for Social Change", which has been called "an organizerâs bible: a comprehensive, real-world tool for organizers of all stripes determined to create attention and affect change. Compiled by leaders of the Midwest Academy, a respected training ground for serious union, community and nonprofit organizers since 1973, the book deals with everything from tactics to the mechanics of how to track a campaign, from coalition-building to using the media to supervising less experienced organizers."
The books are featured every day of the week on LabourStart's front page at http://www.labourstart.org and all the books mentioned here can also be found in our online bookstore, at:
http://www.labourstart.org/books.shtml
These are the kinds of books that your union should be ordering by the truckload. Every time you buy books like these you not only improve your skills and strengthen your union, but you provide much-needed support for the LabourStart project. Thanks very much.
***
ERITREA: KEEP UP THE PRESSURE
The three trade unionists we told you about last week are still locked up in Eritrean jails. But your response has been fantastic. We need only 83 more of you to send off messages and we will break all our records -- this will be the largest campaign LabourStart has ever waged in support of workers' rights. We know that over 21,000 of those reading this message have not yet sent off a message to the Eritrean authorities. Please do so now:
http://www.labourstart.org/eritrea
Thanks.
Have a great weekend.
Eric Lee
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