A fellow union member named Jerry came up to me the other day and told me that he was trying to get the phone number of our local president, so he went to Google and typed in “GMP Local #17” and was surprised by the result. Take a moment and try it. The first two hits will take you back to my blog, including my blog on Why I am Running for Recording Secretary of GMP Local #17. At hit number 4 is the website for GMP Local #51 located in Defiance, Ohio. Directly below that is a link to financial information about our local at UnionFacts.com, one of the worst anti-union websites on the web. What this illustrates to me is the need for our local to have its own website. Whenever I bring up the idea of a website for our union I always receive a great response from my union brothers and sisters, and plenty of good ideas about what to include in such a site. A union website could include bylaws, grievance forms, newsletters, links to FMLA, Family-School Partnership Act, Disability Insurance, and Workers' Compensation information, Union Committee Reports, and labor news both local and national. Take a moment to check out this website: http://www.iue-cwa.org/
This website is packed full of useful information for its members. They use a log-on function for sensitive materials. There is no reason why we could not have something similar. Among the classes I have taken at MJC includes Introduction to Multimedia, Microcomputer Applications, Intro to Computer Graphics, and Web Graphics and Animation, where we built working websites. I feel quite confident I could build a secure website for our local, and I don’t doubt that I could find plenty of volunteers from our computer savvy membership who would be happy to help me out in such a project. I believe it is time for our local to stop communicating like it is the 1950’s and use the tools available in the computer age to increase communication and knowledge. As always I would love to get your input on this our any other ideas you might have about ways to increase communication in our local.
5 comments:
You don't have a website? What is this the 1800's?! Good idea, Stephen now, round up the troops and get it done!
You would think a union as big as GMP Local #17 (I would guess around 700 members since the layoffs) would have a website. The Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers (GMP) International Union recently updated their website and it is a huge improvement over the old one. It can be found at http://www.gmpiu.org/
If your not elected would you still work hard to put up a website for the local 17?
In regards to a GMP #17 website, I would be happy to build it, but it is really a question of access. It would be easier to get it done if I am the Recording Secretary. It would also be easier if the leadership of our union was behind the project. President Contreras has been asked about a website in the past, but nothing has happened thus far. I have asked Georgena Treece about it and she is enthusiastic about building one. So to answer your question, whether I win or lose the election, I would put a website together if asked by the leadership of our union.
It would be nice to have a forum to discuss issuses on and online grevance fileing , but a open forum would have to be moderated heavily to prevent the spread of false info and log in info for all members to prevent the wrong eyes from reading our issues. ps when some running for office says there excited for you ideas they just want your vote doesn't mean they care
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