OPINION□ LABOURSTART Labourstart conference report LabourStart, site ment, of held the the international its news second and global trade campaigning conference unionmoveweb in LabourStart, siteof theinternational tradeunionmovement , held itssecondglobalconference in Washington, DC. On 17-19August thisyear.The 2008conference washeldinLondonattheTrades UnionCongressand at Amnesty International's human rights centre. LabourStart correspondents fromthe USA, Canada,theUK, Finland, Switzerland, Australia, andIndiaparticipated, together witha number of American tradeunionists. The conference was live-blogged bothon LabourStart andon thewebsiteoftheAFL -CIO, one ofAmerica's twonational trade unioncentres, whichhostedtheeventat itsheadquarters. Itwas decidedtoholdtheeventinWashington following the conference in Londonin 2008 at which theweakness ofLabourStart intheUSAwas discussed. Individual American unions - including thosein therival ChangetoWinfederation - hostedindividualevents andprovided other support. Among American tradeunion leaders who addressed LabourStart's correspondents wereoutgoing AFLCIO President John Sweeney and Teamsters' President James Hoffa Jr. Receptions wereheldat theService Employees International Union(SEIU) wherepresentations weremadeabouttheunion's workbuilding globalsolidarity andusingthenew technology, as well as eventshosted by the AmericanFederation of Teachers and the Communication Workers of America/Newspaper Guild. Theconference openedwitha presentation by LabourStart's founding editor, EricLee,aboutwhat had been accomplished in themonths sincethe London conference. A number ofgoalssetbythat meeting havebeenachieved, including thelaunch ofanArabic language edition ofLabourStart (and a Hebrew oneaswell),thecreation ofa socialnetworking website for trade unionists (UnionBook), theholding ofa verysuccessful LabourPhotoof theYearcompetition (nowinitssecondyear), the rapid growth ofLabourStart's following onTwitter, a complete overhaulof the news database,the closing downofLabourStartJobs.org, andthecontinuing growth oftheLabourStart mailing listsin multiple languages. Lee proposedthatin the next few months LabourStart focuson running largerand more popular campaigns, similar to thoserunbywebsiteslikeAvaaz .org, in addition to itsusualcampaigns .He also proposedan increased focuson fundraising, improving campaigns (including more languages), andmore. Theproposalto ensurethatLabourStart, which isnowpublished in23languages, covers allofthe tenmost widely spokenlanguages waswelcomed - meaning thatLabourStart willneed to become availablein Hindi/Urdu, BengaliandJapanese. It was notedthat several ofthoselanguageeditions hadbecomedormant andthegroupcommitted to reviving alloftheexisting editions. The wide-ranging agendaincludeddiscussions of LabourStart's core activities - news and campaigning - butalso existing and proposedprojects . Theseincluded a proposed bookonthesubjectofunionsandthenet ,whichwouldbe a follow -uptobooksbyLeeandArthur B. Shostak (the authorof 'Cyber-Unionism') who attendedthe conference andagreedtobe involved inthebook project. A labourvideooftheyearcompetition willalso be launchedin cooperation withtheDC Metro LaborCouncil whichrunsa very successful annual film festival andhasproduced onlinedatabases of labour filmsand filmfestivals. Some short labourvideoswereshown. Thepromotion ofbooksfor trade unionists and onlinejobs boardsforthoseseeking workinthe tradeunionmovement werealso discussedwith the involvementof the foundersof Union Communication Services and UnionJobs.com. LabourStart worksin partnership withboth,and sales of union books have soared in recent months. Presentations weremadeon thesubjectofthe successful'Your Rightsat Work'campaignin Australiaand on the challengesof building LabourStart inIndia. A longsessionwas devoted tofrank discussions withAmerican tradeunionists aboutglobalsolidarity issuesand thenew technology. A number of the American participants had just returned from a largeconference of progressive bloggers and therewas considerable enthusiasm fornew technologies includemicroblogging (Twitter) and socialnetworks (FacebookandUnionBook). Itwas decidedtoholdtheconferences ona regular ,annualbasisand nextyear'seventis scheduledtotakeplaceinCanada . LabourStart recentlyheld its second global conferencein Washington ERIC LEE developed and maintains the LabourStart trade union news and campaigns website Page 19 Volume 16Issue 52009 INTERNATIONAL union rights OPINION □ LABOURSTART I lovegetting an emaillikethison a Mondaymorning. "Iam writing tothank you,yourorganisation and supporters for thesolidarity and support displayedintherecent CarlisleCleanersdisputeinLondon", writes MickLynch, a member of theExecutive Committee ofRMT,a British union. "Iam gladto report thatfollowing two24-hour strikes, theemail/web campaigncoordinated byLabourstart, and themediaand political pressurewe wereable toexert, a settlement has been agreed". Itgetsevenbetter. • Thecleaners- whoclean Eurostar trains - wona nearly sixpercent payincreaseeffective nextyearand another increasetotalling nearly 10 percent over13 months. • Thecompanyhas agreedthattheLondonLiving Wage isthebenchmark for future pay agreements. • Anagreement has been reachedon bullying and harassment ofstaff, to mitigate the redundancy program, and todiscuss pensionsand sickpayinthenextround. Theworkers ratified theagreement bya hugemargin. Thisis whathappens whenworkersstand theirground- and get supportfrom their unionand from tradeunionistslikeyourselvesaroundtheworld. Thousandsofyousentmessages to Eurostar. Yourvoices wereheard. As another RMTofficial putitto metoday,"thisisa massivevictory forcleaners". Onlinecampaigning works- letnoone doubtthis. So here'smyquestiontoailofyou: Therearealmost53,000ofyouonthislist.Butonly6,936ofyouhavesentoff messages in support ofworkers atValeIncoinCanada who'vebeen on strike sinceJuly. Thereare 46,000ofyouwho are readingthismessage who've notyetsent a message to thiscompany. I'mappealingtoeveryone ofyou- please takea fewseconds and send off a message right now. Ifyou'reone ofthe6,936who'vealreadydone this, thanks- butlet'sdo more. Forwardthismessage to othermembersofyourunion,to workmates,to friends and colleagues and family members. Wewant10,000messages intheinboxofVale'sCEO, RogerAgnelli, before Christmas. We'vehelpedwina hugevictory for cleanerson Eurostar trains. Let'snowdo thesame for ourbrothers and sisterswalking thepicketlinesatValeInco. Andone morething. Please helpLabourStart with a generousend-of-year...