Archive | August, 2009

Three more Twitter tips for trade unions

As Twitter has grown larger and faster, more and more unions are starting Twitter accounts. On the one hand, this is a good sign. Unions should exploit social media and tools such as Twitter. On the other hand, many unions are not following the basic rules of social media, or are not following Twitter etiquette. [...]

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Why the Save VCA campaign is a great case study

Why the Save VCA campaign is a great case study

The Save VCA campaign a few moments ago reached 10,000 Facebook fans. In less than a fortnight, over 5,000 people have signed the paper Save VCA petition. Over 1,000 people attended a rally with Geoffrey Rush as a speaker, after a week of flashmobs and other semi-spontaneous artistic performances. Earlier this week, the Save VCA [...]

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A creative manifesto

Every good cause has a manifesto these days. Here’s the Creative Unions manifesto – the new social venture started by Atosha and myself to promote powerful union design and communications. Check it out. Let us know what you think. Send us a tweet @creativeunions or visit our Creative Unions Facebook page.

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Why unions should embrace social media

The new social media is a very powerful thing. It allows unions to have intimate, personal conversations with hundreds, if not thousands of members, potential members and supporters. No longer are unions reliant on the old forms of media (news papers, television, radio), or on face-to-face conversations between organisers and workers. Social media allows for [...]

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Clean Energy Jobs and Climate Dinosaurs

Clean Energy Jobs and Climate Dinosaurs

Great video from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as a part of the new ACTU Southern Cross Climate Coalition campaign, Clean Energy Jobs.

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Six effective print communications tips for union campaigns

Unions have little hesitation in spending thousands of dollars, in some cases tens of thousands of dollars, on printed communications – leaflets, posters, newsletters, fact-sheets, stickers and so on. At the start of a campaign, the first thing many union officials think is: “we need an A4 leaflet and a poster for this campaign”. Unfortunately, [...]

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Get involved in politics to make a change

Get involved in politics to make a change

Following from my recent criticisms of those who sit on the sidelines and complain, rather than joining in and getting their hands dirty, I’ve tracked down the Maribyrnong Leader article I featured in: A FOOTSCRAY man is determined to shift people’s perceptions on climate change. Alex White says his commitment to the issue has been [...]

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Letter in Crikey

My letter in Crikey today Regarding “Make the World Pay“: I’ve noticed it is fashionable for Crikey to publish CPRS-bashing articles from the Greens Party and others (e.g. Bernard Keane). There is no doubt that the CPRS is less than many people hoped it would be — especially the excessive industry assistance. The simple fact [...]

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half-senate-election

Labor won’t go to a double dissolution election

There is a lot of talk all over the place about Rudd going to an early double-dissolution election. Many otherwise well informed people I’ve met (engineers, accountants, academics, and so on) believe that a double-dissolution is both likely, easy and in Labor’s favour – even Larvatus Prodeo goes on about it. Antony Green has categorical [...]

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Using Facebook as an organising tool

Using Facebook as an organising tool

Facebook, like Twitter, is one of those social networking tools that unions are struggling to figure out. It is the most used social networking tool on earth, and an increasing number of Baby Boomers are starting to use it, expanding out of the younger 16-30 year old demographic. I have experimented with using Facebook as [...]

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Seven ways for unions to use Twitter

Twitter is definitely one of the new cool things on the Internet – the epitome of “Web 2.0″. Unions have traditionally been slow in their uptake of new technology. A quick survey of many union websites show that they are seriously out of date (technology wise, if not their content). Many union leaders and officials [...]

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