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February 25, 2006
The Name Isn't Everything
I've been asked by a lot of people about my opinion of the AFL-CIO's new blog. My answer has been: what blog?
I encourage more labor blogs to get started. But, the point of a blog is to create conversation and debate. In some ways, the AFL-CIO is doing precisely what its culture dictates: pretend like you're doing soemthing innovative and different without really doing anything different. It's too much p.r. and spin, with nothing new.
The space the AFL-CIO created that it labels "blog" appears to me to be no different than the rest of the site: it's simply offering information (which is fine) but it prevents debate--a long-time hallmark of the AFL-CIO's culture that pre-dates the Sweeney Administration. No one can post comments. You're simply asked to absorb more propoganda and be interested in a one-way conversation.
I imagine there was some concern that allowing open debate would draw anti-union voices and some weird stuff. That's life and you have to be adults about criticism. In this space, there's been a lot of criticism of my views and even some personal attacks. I can report that I am still alive. And the rationale posters (which also can mean people using very passionate and heated language) end up crowding out the disruptive people.
The fact is the web is precisely about decentralization and opening up the process. So, with due respect, the AFL-CIO "blog" is a disappointment.
My prediction: the AFL-CIO's "blog" will quickly be forgotten, will attract no interest from people the AFL-CIO should be appealing to (i.e., non-union workers and/or potential allies) and offer very little new to the debate about the future of our movement.
It isn't too late, though. Save yourselves. Open up the comments section.
February 25, 2006 in Inside Labor | Permalink
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Comments
I don't always agree with your postings/positions on various issues...however I have to agree with your comments on the AFL-CIO "blog". I though the same thing when I first visited. Very disappointed and hope after they dip their toe in the water, the AFL will open it up for comments/debate...with some reasonable rules.
Posted by: Odello | Feb 25, 2006 6:13:38 PM
I think I should make it clear that my background is enlisted military, not public or private sector union labor. However, my father was blue collar labor in an oil refinery. However, he said he favored a company union, because the leadership was closer to the worker.
Well now I think that the Internet has allowed me to get closer to the leadership of the AFL-CIO. I was surprised when I heard that the AFL-CIO had a blog because I had noticed that the AFL-CIO made the military seem open and publicly oriented. I hoped that I could start a dialog about our political system.
To make a long story short, I spent about an hour trying to learn how to post a reply on that stupid blog. Them company unions are looking pretty good.
Jack
Posted by: Jack Stewart | Feb 25, 2006 7:29:49 PM
Last week, I wrote an e-mail to the webmaster of the AFL "blog" indicating that i could not figure out how to post replies. Here is the response I got:
Re: no public comments?
Dear Brother [my name removed]:
Thank you so much for your feedback.
Launching a blog is a big change for us, and we are taking it one step at a time. We plan to explore options for comments and/or other forms of feedback as we get further along in this process.
In the meantime, we hope you will feel free to send us comments and news at blognews@aflcio.org.
In solidarity,
James Parks
Senior Writer
Posted by: blahzoman | Feb 26, 2006 10:50:22 AM
Ahhh...a wide-open, no holds barred, brawling blog for the AFL-CIO. WAP! Still dreaming, eh? Here's reality. Blogs are generally by people, not institutions. The AFL-CIO is an institution people care about -- some care to hate it, some love it, some criticize, some want to kill or save it, etc. So chances are good that a two-way AFL-CIO blog would get hundreds of responses a day, maybe more on weekends, mainly from right-wing, right-to-work-loving, hate unions, kind of folks who want to vent. I do realize there would also be some helpful dialogue from actual workers too. So should the blog responses be culled? You tell me.
Anyway rewind your clocks to last summer when the AFL-CIO read the writing on the wall and laid off more than a quarter of its staff. Now with other unions pulling out and maybe more trimming to come, do you expect the AFL-CIO to hire more people to make sure their blog is watched over 24/7? Probably not. But if they jumped right into a completely open two-way blog and then decided to pull back for any reason, people would be bitching right on this website that they are censoring the blog or cutting off communication with workers.
I applaud the AFL-CIO for starting down the path to a full-blown blog, but I also urge and expect them to continue in that direction. So far I find the AFL-CIO's blog to be better than the Change to Win blog (let me know what year you find it). And so far I haven't read any comments about the lacklustre state of the Change to Win website which doesn't have even a picture of worker on it.
Posted by: Robin O. Hunter | Feb 26, 2006 11:54:42 AM
Brother Tasini is right on the mark here. I was in no way shocked to find out that the AFL blog was nothing but one way/no discussion zone. It is TOTALLY reflective of the intolerance of debate and dissent within the AFL and many other labor unions. And as a frequent blogger on DailyKos and several other sites, I must say that whenever I stumble upon a blog WITHOUT a comment feature, I never ever return to it!
With regards to the above comments about Change to Win, I will agree that their website has been far too slow in it's progression. However, you will recall that the SEIU blog which Stern later morphed into "Unitetowin.com" always had a comment feature. Now, say what you will about Andy Stern, but at least he has the balls to not shelter himself from his critics (at least when it comes to the blogosphere). And he would post follow up blogs with quotes from the comments section, so he was definitely reading what people wrote. And believe me, there were some harsh personal attacks on that site! So I would expect to see a much more interactive site from CTW in the near future.
Now, if the AFL wanted to offer something USEFUL to workers both union and non-union, they might do something like have a "Fast answers from a union rep" online feature. Now if a little UFCW Local can set that up, don't you think the AFL-CIO would be able to?
Posted by: Jambon | Feb 27, 2006 2:01:31 AM
re: AFL-CIO
I think it is high time the AFL take a good look in the mirror. They (the leadership, NOT rank-and-filers) have taken to calling other unions "raiders" and the like in the wake of the mass defections of their ranks. What they fail to see is their own monolithic tendencies are what drive these members to break affiliation (which, more often than not, are done through elections and votes - democracy at work). The AFL has been an ATM for the democratic party for the past half century... and for what? What have democratic politicians given them, especially over the last 8 years? Absolutely nothing. People can blame Dubya all they want, but the fact of the matter is that the AFL's shortcomings, and, more importantly it's complancency, has been just as pertinent a symptom of the demise of the middle class in this country as any republican administration. I commend the groups that have splintered off to focus on organizing and grassroots campaigns. It is far more productive than fighting other unions.
Posted by: TDM | Feb 27, 2006 11:51:14 AM
Thanks for the kind words jambon, good to see you are still around. Our youareworthmore site should have given the powers that be a glimpse as to the potential of the net. We talked to thousands of workers who were looking for help. Imagine if an organization the size of the AFL-CIO or the UFCW international had made a committment and put their resources and money behind a similar venture.
They had enormous updide and minimal downside. The problem of course is control and the possible exposure of their faults and sins. Problem is, everyone knows they exist; they just believe that denial and staying above it can allow them to continue on as if it will last forever.
Workers are looking for solutions, for help, for leadership, for education; unfortunately when the movement died we were left with a bunch of tired old white guys who were too busy trying to save themselves and their organizations. In case you hadn't noticed, workers are getting the snot beat out of them; though i see the leadership hasn't missed a meal.
Don't look for anything too soon from the boys in the way of creativity. This fear of the internet and reaching out to workers to help them is just too revolutionary. These spin doctored static sites they run is a microcosm of the the biz union model; lots of hype and little in the way of substance.
Too bad, because the potential was/is there if anyone had the balls or the brains to use it. Of course, they had better be prepared for all of their ugly blemishes to be seen by one and all. One of the reasons local 789's youareworthmore worked was because we were squeeky clean and had nothing to hide or were ashamed of.
Posted by: Bill Pearson | Feb 27, 2006 5:29:59 PM
Blogs are tough for an organization like the AFL or any of the others because of the "message" problem. We tend to turn into a broken record obsessed with this message, instead of expanding on it and turning it into something creative and exciting.
Organizing, for example, is pretty mysterious for those outside of the movement. What exactly do organizers do? Why not talk about housecalls (generally, no real details... we do it all the time in reports and such) and what they are all about? Why not talk about members becoming organizers, and their transition's importance to the movement (or, gasp, let members do it themselves?)
Private websites could do that, but doing it on your own organizational website really says something about a commitment to change.
Posted by: Reece Chenault | Feb 27, 2006 5:56:18 PM
hi, i just blogged your post here, as well as the announcement of the new AFL blog back on the 21 of February. also sent them the following email:
"Well I blogged your new blog, been looking forward to seeing it and no cigar. The first thing I noticed was no comments as an option so I am using this form to contact you. I see also that there is no link to Harry Kelber's Labor Talk - is that because he's been critical of the AFL-CIO? No mention of the gang of seven bailing out of the House of Labor much less anything on the Laborers and Operating Engineers withdrawing in the last week -- even Google has that., yet you have the gall to demand that the news we submit be current and fresh. Hello, anybody there that has a clue to what the hype *super-blog* represents. At least you have a link to NathanNewman and Confined Space so there might be hope.
Do you have the gumption to mention *Cash* McCarron and his corporate unionism and his attempt to crush the Canadian Autonomy movement in British Columbia? Is this just a feeble attempt to be another one of Stern's top down pseudo-blogs or are you serious? I challenge you to link to rank and file blogs and sites, and dare you to open it up to open comments - better yet, an online application for blogging privileges."
========
to their credit i did get a coouple of replies, so maybe they can rise to their hype.
fraternally, dave carpenters local 2300 canada http://rawblogxport.blogspot.com/
Posted by: dave livingston | Mar 1, 2006 2:43:27 PM
I don't get it, Dave. Why would you ask the AFL-CIO and not CtoW about "*Cash* McCarron and his corporate unionism and his attempt to crush the Canadian Autonomy movement in British Columbia" or if "this just a feeble attempt to be another one of Stern's top down pseudo-blogs"? The Carpenters and SEIU are in CtoW, not the AFL-CIO.
Posted by: D Flinchum | Mar 1, 2006 10:40:45 PM
hi, i have, on one of stern's top down blogs last year, and in several other places on an ongoing basis, the point wasn't the question(s) but rather the publishing of news and the creation of a venue for discussion - the carpenters have never offered their members a chance to discuss mccarron's trashing of the house of labour. for years the carpenters were members of the afl, then on a whim by mccarron - without a rank and file vote of the members, we all were no longer affiliated with the afl. it seems strange that 500,000 union members were abandoned by sweeney with no explanation.
in the article "AFL-CIO alters negotiation strategy" - by Brian Tumult in the Green Bay Press-Gazette today (http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060302/GPG03/603020526/1247/GPGbusiness) he says "Weakened by the loss of more than 4 million members from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other unions that broke away last year to form the Change to Win federation, the AFL-CIO sees these coordinating committees as a key to rebuilding its membership."
so the topic is still current to some on both sides of the house, and lots of rank and file members deserve better for their dues money that pays for the salaries and offices and websites of the union. harry kelber in his labor talk for this week titled "AFL-CIO Council Will Meet and Strategize, But How Many Workers Will Be Listening?" says "The harsh truth is that both the AFL-CIO and the Choice to Win coalition have each been taken over by a small group of union presidents, who are using them for their own purposes.
If we want to reclaim our unions and have a voice in their future, we have a difficult struggle ahead of us. It will be up to union people like you to decide whether the struggle is worth it." (http://www.laboreducator.org/meetstrat.htm)
still timely topics, as is our struggle against mccarron here in british columbia canada. for the afl to make like an ostrich over unions that bail out gives short shrift to millions of workers. thanks for you comments.
Posted by: dave livingston | Mar 2, 2006 12:13:38 PM
Re: the so-called afl-cio blog. a blog that refuses to allow debate is not a blog. the people who write the stuff for afl-cionow are afl-cio pr staffers who were the editors and writers for the now-defunct afl-cio news (does anyone remember that one?). i guess they had to do something to justify their salaries so they turned to the internet.
Posted by: jim templeton | Mar 3, 2006 10:02:49 AM
Comment sections are for frustrated losers. Doh!
Posted by: bloggerrhea | Mar 6, 2006 4:07:41 PM
I am so tired of hearing about companies out sourcing jobs. I can not believe that our government is out sourcing the management of our ports to companies out side America. It is time to stop this practice. I found a petition that ask congress to ban foreign companies from managing any of the operations at our ports.
The link to the site is
http://common-sense-america.com/port-petition.htm
Tom
Posted by: Thomas Ford | Mar 9, 2006 2:12:52 AM
