Unions and GuildsThat Blog (Tra La)

Well, this isn't exactly what we're doing, but I guess we're cousins... Unions’ Web Wake-Up Call Blogs and sites let union organizers reach out to workers, but there are limits. July 17, 2006 Todd Jordan could have taken to the streets to air his grievances with America’s bankrupt giant automotive parts maker, Delphi. But he’s got a better place to picket—online. Mr. Jordan, a 29-year-old, third-generation autoworker, runs a blog called Futureoftheunion.com to keep rank and file Delphi employees informed about the latest developments in the company. The site is run by Mr. Jordan out of an office plastered with Che Guevara posters in Kokomo, Indiana. Apart from serving as a rallying point for Delphi workers, the site calls for sweeping change within the United Auto Workers union. “It allows people not only to keep up to date on things important to them, but also enables workers to connect with each other who would otherwise not be able to,” says Mr. Jordan, a card-carrying UAW man who worked at Delphi’s Kokomo plant for nearly seven years. Mr. Jordan, who uses his blog to press for greater worker control of the union, says in a posting that he has “made a few enemies.” Large unions like the UAW and Transport Workers Union, and smaller splinter groups like Future of the Union, have taken to the web to air grievances and organize employees. Especially in cases where companies keep tight controls on union-building efforts, web sites and blogs can serve as important platforms for union supporters, offering employees a confidential way to share grievances without fear of reprisal. When Mr. Jordan launched Future of the Union back in August 2004 to show his opposition to a two-tier agreement the United Auto Workers negotiated with Delphi, the blog averaged less than 500 hits per week. Today, hits can run from 10,000 to 30,000 a day, depending on what’s new at the UAW, he says. “Everyone from analysts and reporters to other workers can hear what the workers, and not the union bosses, have to say about the union.” We're not particularly renegades around here. But we are trying to raise consciences a teensy bit, even as we blog about a lot of other angles on animation. We've got to keep ourselves interested, after all. And simply beating the tin drum about one tired old subject isn't what we're about. Better to pound on a variety of musical instruments...