Union Voice: Readers Write: Navigating The "Uncharted Seas" Of The Guild's HuffPost Boycott
Thursday, March 24, 2011(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
“So here's a 21st century labor conundrum,” writes Andy Zipser of The
Newspaper Guild. “One of your Street Heat pieces today (Will
Facebook Replace Labor Unions? 3/22/11) quotes Tom Hayes
talking about labor unions having outlived their usefulness as organizing
devices because the internet has made it unnecessary for people to have
intermediaries organizing them. You then go on to paraphrase Hayes as saying
that the nexus of the internet and mobile communications makes collective action
easier and more imperative than ever before providing a link to Hayes' original
screed. Hayes' comments, it's worth mentioning, are on the Huffington Post.
That's the same Huffington Post around which The Newspaper Guild has thrown a
virtual picket line in support of unpaid writers who think it's only fair that
they be compensated for their work. I realize this is new terrain for all of us,
but I ask you to ponder issues of union solidarity in this context.” Zipser
provided a link to
coverage of the HuffPost boycott on the Guild website, noting that
“you're not the only one who may be having trouble navigating uncharted seas.
As the story notes, both (AFL-CIO President Rich) Trumka and (United
Steelworkers President Leo) Gerard are HuffPo bloggers, and neither would issue
a statement about whether they intend to continue to cross our picket line. I
don't think it's for lack of sympathy, but simply because we're raising issues
that most people simply haven't thought through.”