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ILCA Insider August 12, 2008
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Aug 15, 2008 Posted by Steve Stallone
From: "ILCAInsider" <ilca@aflcio.org>
Subject: Investigate Wal-Mart's Illegal Election Tampering
August 12, 2008
Investigate Wal-Mart's Illegal
Election Tampering
Wal-Mart's arrogance, the company's attitude that it is above the law, that the rules
don't apply to the world's largest
retailer, has given the labor movement another
opportunity to
take the offensive against it. Eleven
days ago the
Wall Street Journal
reported that Wal-Mart
was holding
mandatory meetings with its store managers
and
supervisors, warning that if Obama
and the Democrats
win in November the Employee Free Choice Act
would pass and
Wal-Mart employees could more easily unionize
and, according to
Wal-Mart, all sorts of horrors would ensue.
The tactic is not merely disgusting and the perfect argument for why the Employee Free Choice Act is needed, it may well be illegal.
American Rights at Work is leading the charge, gathering signatures on a petition calling on the Federal Election Commission to investigate Wal-Mart's efforts to sway their employees' votes. You can sign the online petition here and spread the word to your members. ARAW will deliver the signatures to the FEC this Thursday.
The petition and allegations of Wal-Mart's violation of election laws gives union communicators an opening to further publicize both Wal-Mart's offensive treatment of its workers and to promote the Employee Free Choice Act. Write and publish op-ed pieces and letters to the editor and push stories on the issue to your local media. You can see a great example of a video rebuttal to Wal-Mart here on YouTube from Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.ILCA has tips and materials to help you write about this topic; just email mstrauss@aflcio.org for details.
A Better Union Website in 50 Minutes:
Content Management Systems and LaborWeb
Still using HTML editing software like Publisher or Dreamweaver to maintain a union website? Switch to a content management system! This user-friendly, simple to learn tool takes the headache out of designing and updating your site. ILCA is offering this brief workshop August 20 at 12pm EST as part of its DC-based web skills training series.
ILCA Vice President Jason Lefkowitz of Change to Win will present an overview and definition of content management systems and answer questions about how this tool can help save time and effort in maintaining union sites.
Chris Kenngott of the AFL-CIO also presents LaborWeb, a content management system that is available free to many affiliate unions, state federations and CLCs. LaborWeb is your comprehensive, easy-to-use system for building, designing and maintaining your union website. Just a few minutes of training is all that's needed to get started using LaborWeb.
To attend the Aug. 20th session on Content Management Systems, click here. (We will try to make a conference call option available for those not in the DC area.) To sign up for one of the FREE upcoming LaborWeb trainings with the AFL-CIO, click here. To find out if you can get LaborWeb for your local union, please check with your state AFL-CIO or Central Labor Council.
Verizon Workers Sign Historic Contract
Photo taken from AFLCIONow Blog. From AFL-CIO Blog writer Mike Hall:
"Some 65,000 East Coast workers at Verizon won what union leaders called a “breakthrough agreement,” when negotiators for the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) reached a tentative three-year deal with Verizon yesterday."
Read more about this huge union victory here and here.
The McCain Tool Kit: Have Fun
ILCA has added some new material to the McCain Communicators' ToolKit, including this little gem from the Daily Kos: A spoof on the LOL Cats phenomenon using photos of McCain instead of playful felines. Enjoy.