Labour Research

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UnionBook launched

In early February 2009, LabourStart announced the public launch of UnionBook (http://www.unionbook.org), the social network for trade unionists. Within days, the site came alive with blogs, discussion forums, shared files and groups. As I write…


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Keeping the organizers organized

Trade unionists talk a lot about organising, but how well organised are we ourselves? I’ve tried lots of tools over the years with the goal of being better organised, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), PC-based…



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Alternatives to Facebook

Unions are increasingly turning to tools like Facebook. But there is also a growing awareness of the problems with such social networks. Groups and causes one sets up on Facebook do not belong to you….


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LabourStart’s UK edition improved

For more than a decade, LabourStart has provided online news for trade unionists. This summer the website underwent a major overhaul most of which was not visible to the casual visitor. But the changes have…


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Remember Twitter

There is an increasing tendency among trade unions to “outsource” certain parts of our websites — and this is going to cause problems for us even in the short run. More and more unions are…




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Net neutrality and the unions

One of Canada’s largest unions, the 340,000 member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), has joined the battle to defend net neutrality. The fact that most trade unionists won’t even understand what that…