Changing the world one Amazon review at a time
I’ve posted a handful (literally) of reviews on the Amazon website. I didn’t even remember that I had, but I just now had to post one about the new James Bond book so I returned…
There’s a battle outside ragin’: Unions take centre stage in the fight for democracy
For those of us who support the growth of democracy in the world, it almost goes without saying that we support workers’ rights and trade unions. But sometimes that support is only perfunctory. After all,…
Linux after one year
As I discovered entirely by accident, today marks the end of my first year using Linux. When I began, I wrote a number of updates for my blog with titles like ‘Linux: the first nine…
Ultra-portable laptops and the unions: A revolution in the making
With gas prices soaring and food prices at a new high, this seems an odd time to raise the subject of things getting cheaper. But in one small corner of our consumer universe, one commodity…
Obama-Edwards: A winning ticket
It’s the morning after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. It now seems pretty clear to everyone that Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee for President. The question now is — what…
POW! I’m programming again
I wrote my first computer program back in 1985. I was writing in a long-forgotten programming language known as “RPG II” for an IBM System 34 mini-computer. (Mini-computers were not what you think — they…
Is Obama a Marxist?
Bill Kristol thinks so. Gosh, you read an article like that and it makes you want to vote for Obama. Bill’s Dad — himself a graduate of the Trotskyist Left of the 1930s — should…
Web-based time-management tools for trade unionists
Trade unionists as much as anyone else need to make the most of their time – and the web is now full of time-management tools that promise to make all of us more efficient. I’ve…
Our very own movement photo album
A few years ago, LabourStart starting featuring a photo of the week (sometimes, of the day), just to liven up its front page a bit. As its editor, I’d see photos of strikes or picket…
A model online union campaign
March 6th 2008 has been declared a global day of action in support of Iranian workers by two leading international trade union bodies. The International Trade Union Confederation, which unites national trade union centres such…