Cyberunions Talk Show Episode 41 – Proprietary Labor Union IT

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0:32 Walton is in London

  • Working with a newly formed Union Solidarity International
  • For some reason grassroots is a good idea with the labor movement
  • Stephen camped out with MXtomalacalle at the Monument to the Revolution
  • Believe it or not Stephen can dance late into the night and finished the night with a talk about the Paris Commune

7:05 The closure of the Johnny Walker factory

  • The existing plant was profitable but they still decided to close it
  • Walton shed a tear watching the factory workers leave for the last time
  • Walton took video footage of the last day
  • Capital taking advantage of the economic crisis to close and extract more profits
  • Disturbing what capital can do with so much power, bribing the government to give them money to stay

13:00 A more cheerful tech update

  • MXtomalacalle has adopted Free Software as part of the movement
  • Free Software working group has been created and starts to meet this week.
  • Trying to handle volunteer info and Stephen tried out CiviCRM we had done a show with Keir about it in episode 20
  • CiviCRM install was pretty easy on the WordPress site
  • Ability to develop social connections between relationships of people involved
  • A learning process, and a good support group on IRC

17:58 Labor Unions and their IT proprietary ways

  • From our IRC channel came a discussion of IT at labor unions being more supportive to Microsoft and mainstream
  • Connects to the Marxist critique that you use the capitalist tools against itself
  • Very rare to run into labor activists that understand the politics of software, network and the power structures involved
  • Labor union strategy tends to be a Broadcast and not focusing on their strengths to organize community

22:00 No risk strategy to use LibreOffice

  • Probably could start with LibreOffice
  • Stephen ducked and went or goed or something to research connections to anti-law firm
  • Stephen happen to find a connection between Microsoft and a Jackson-Lewis and why unions shouldn’t use Microsoft
  • Trying to figure out a way to build committees in a union to demand Free Software

27:15 Stephen is a Trot and some how a tank is involved

  • There are lots of trots and tankies in Britian
  • Tankies are stalinists, and the name comes from the Stalin invasion to worker revolutions that were being oppressed
  • In Mexico tankies are stalinistas

 

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Marxist. Socialist & labor movement organizer. Boston DSA Labor he/him
https://rfs.dsausa.org/
Bread & Roses Caucus in #DSA
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