Labo(u)r history in the clouds
Continued from Episode 12 – this is part two of a two part show.
1:00 Walton’s updates
- Training in creating websites for branches/locals
- Every branch/local should have a Communications Officer – put the comms in your hands
2:00 Stephen’s updates
- Labor Notes is a good union website
- Different labor laws for different sectors
5:00 Global solidarity – the view from South Africa
- Different union history makes global solidarity interesting
- The IWW has an important role in South African labour history
- The Industrial Workers of Africa – Sifuna Zonke! (Safundi journal link for those who like pay walls)
11:30 US Labor History
- Knights of Labor – early radical union
- American Federation of Labor
- Eugene V Debs was an IWW founder who ran for president
- Congress of Industrial Organizations – joined with the AFL to form the AFL-CIO
- The IWW – the folks that brought you the weekend and the eight hour day
- Stephen argues for member-run unions
17:00 The situation in the UK
- Craft unions, organised on skills lines – can be conservative
- IWW model – one industry, one union. No competition between unions!
- Unions can be too bureaucratic – structure should be a loose framework that facilitates activism
- Every member should be an activist
- Servicing model has demobilised members
20:45 Union structures are an obstacle
- The US is at the forefront of neoliberalism – the rest of the world is converging on this economic model
- Stephen doesn’t think unions should employ people
- Bureacratic structures respond too slowly
- The theoretical discussion on trees and rhizomes
- Dual unionism is one tactic – get the best of both worlds
- The Teamsters for a Democratic Union
30:00 We’ve seen the history – is cloud computing the future?
- Cloud computing – Google Docs, Dropbox, ChromeOS and so on
- Jolicloud was a cloud-based Linux distro
- The cloud is only as good as your internet connection
- Who controls your data?
- FreedomBox might be the solution – uses plug servers running Debian and using onion routers, encryption and social networks
- Convenience of the cloud without any of the dangers
39:00 Thanks and Feedback
- TINAP Andyc and Davidmarsden
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