Times/PI negotiations blogs

Not that there's nothing new on this front, but I'm a little busy these days with negotiations.

For the latest on negotiations at The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, please check out our blogs:

www.timesnegotiations.blogspot.com
www.pinegotiations.blogspot.com

Anti-union retaliation at the Eagle-Tribune

The Boston Herald reports (link) that some people think that recent staff changes at the Eagle-Tribune might be retaliation for the failed union organizing campaign there earlier this year.

Brief updates

Disaffected! is a computer game where you get to be an unhappy Kinko's employee.

Top 10 Labor Web sites of the year.

Two items on the LA Times UFW series:
A piece on the LA Times labor coverage.
Controversy over the series itself.

Also, the IAM is voting on a proposal at Northwest Airlines.

Breaking the law, breaking the law ...

Jonathan Tasini has a great post on the New York Transit Strike today.

A little labor history, New York transit strike

The New York transit strike has prompted Slate magazine to explain why this one is illegal, complete with a mini-history of U.S. labor law.

For the straight scoop on the strike, check out .TWU Local 1's Web site

CWA organizing victories

Jonathan Tasini at Working Life has posted a story about CWA's recent organizing victories at Cingular.

Newspapers and profit

The LA Times has a good piece on why today's newspaper profits aren't enough for some owners.

"They're either rolling in it, or they're really rolling in it. And when they're only rolling in it, they start to panic."

Starbucks Union, K-R rumors

Starbucks workers in New Zealand are on strike.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., another Starbucks store goes union.

The buzz is buzzing that a Knight-Ridder sale might be announced on Monday.

SEIU organizing victory in Washington

Woo!



10,000 home childcare workers in Washington state have joined the union.

(Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild members and staff helped with this for a couple of days last summer!)

One to watch

Hey, they're trying to organize at the Eagle-Tribune in the Boston area. Check out their campaign blog here.

News bits roundup

1. AFL-CIO is helping us keep track of the bad guys. Their Job Tracker database tells you which companies in your area are exporting jobs, endangering workers' health or involved in cases of violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Check it out here.
2. The newspaper industry lost more than 1,900 jobs last year. That's just at major and mid-sized papers. Well, what's left of them, anyway. Check out the story here.
3. Do the publishers need to trim those jobs? Well, no, actually they don't, says the AP.
4. In more pleasant news, engineers at Boeing just got a great contract, including average 17 percent raises. See that story here.
5. Slate magazine writer Jack Shafer and his readers speculate on the takeover of the media by post-Boomers, and the headlines we'll write.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Labour Start TV

1. Did you know that author Doris Kearns Goodwin is on the board of Northwest Airlines? Read all about it at Working Life.

2. Can't get enough online video produced by and for trade unionists? Check out Labour Start TV.

On getting a life

Interesting essay in Wired magazine on being slaves to the machine.

Jerry Large rocks!

Seattle Times columnist (and Guild member) Jerry Large writes about the legacy of Rosa Parks and the importance of raising a fuss.

Tell Wal-Mart to play nice

Want to protest Wal-Mart's union-busting business practices?

Do so here.

Activism isn't a game...

... or is it?

"A Force More Powerful," a new computer game based on the PBS documentary with the same name, teaches activists strategies for nonviolent conflict.

Read the Wired story here.

Here's a quote: "You have to worry about your organization. Do you set up a hierarchal organization, or a cell-based one? Who is the best figurehead for the media? What kind of training do people need? And if you march on the capital without proper controls, things may turn violent, which will harm your cause. These are the things people can learn."

"The Art of War" for the pro-social crowd.

Davis Bacon gets unsuspended!

Jonathan Tasini reports on that here.

See? That's why we need a union

The St. Paul Pioneer Press suspended a copy editor for attending a peace rally. This is the same paper that suspended a couple of reporters for going to a Bruce Springsteen/R.E.M. concert that raised money for the Kerry campaign.

The Newspaper Guild local there grieved the reporters' suspension and will fight this new case as well.

"Labor's Hurricane George"

Froma Harrop weighs in on the Bush administration's suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act.

It's not every day that union process makes the news

Daniel Engber explains the process for dismissal of a Guild-represented employee in the Slate magazine story "How do you fire a New York Times reporter?"

Sprint strike info

Info on the Sprint strike here.

The future of newspapers

Washington Post media and entertainment reporter Frank Ahrens discusses technology and the future of newspapers.

Jobs in journalism

Who says there are no new opportunities in our field?

Al-Qaida's hiring.

Can't you just imagine trying to organize that workplace?: "So ... what are your issues?"

The information industries get organized

Jonathan Tasini reports in Working Life that the AFL-CIO has created an Arts, Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Industry Coordinating Committee. (CWA and The Newspaper Guild are listed as member unions.

Newsprint blues

Jack Shafer says that newspaper publishers' complaints about newsprint prices are a load of crap.

A deal in the CBC lockout!

OK, it's not totally settled. There's been no vote. And the ink's not dry and all that.

But really ... the workers won.

Read more at CBC Unplugged and in the Globe & Mail.

And then do a little dance.

Because a victory for one is a victory for all!

"Flightplan" boycott

Jonathan Tasini reports that the Association of Flight Attendants (a CWA union) is asking for a boycott of the Jodie Foster flick "Flightplan."

It's because of an unflattering portrayal of flight attendants. I'll comply with this boycott, but I have to note that if the Guild asked for a similar boycott based on unflattering portrayals of journalists, we'd have to stop watching pretty much all movies and TV.