I have long thought about writing this post for the public to see. I might have even written a few versions of it over the years and never let it be seen; however, now more than ever, it is time to just let it rip.
The deal is this: Unions in the US are clearly 10 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to the Internet. Many of the unions are on sites that look and feel like they were built in crayon by a retired worker’s 4 year-old granddaughter. Some of the union locals don’t have a site at all. A large number of unions that have sites, some that are actually well-done, have content dating back to 1999, which is … well, old.
In other articles that I have written and in letters or in discussions I shared that it is imperative that a worker who comes home at the end of a day, who checks his or her emails and goes on MYSPACE or wherever, needs to have their union with them. And what does that mean? That means the unions need to communicate with this worker and lead the worker back to their site to get caught up on current events, no matter what those current events are. Workers want to be kept informed and I believe it is the union’s responsibility to keep the workers informed … especially online where so many folks go before they leave for work and soon after they return home.
All the excuses from the unions regarding why they are reluctant to go forward online are exactly that … excuses. There should be none … period. Even if the union sends out one story a week that it either has written for their publication or something they found in the NY Times or wants to give their counter-punch, the union and the worker needs to be communicated via online content, it is just a matter of fact, Jack.
Write Through is, for the most part, just me … until it is too busy and I need to hire another unionized freelance worker. That said the unions can use us to help with the content, get fresh material on the site, conceptualize and help re-build their current site if it needs a face lift, and just know that it is like having a staff member with them because I (and anyone I have to hire) cares about the union movement.
