Well you know disagreeing with people is kind of stuck up. Instead of stating an argument against something why not have an exploratory dialogue. This way you can investigate the tensions in both positions and perhaps bring yourself to a new understanding of where you both stand in relation to each other.
Scotland faces more council strikes after local government employers refused to increase a 2.5% pay offer.
A short history of the strike movement that took hold of Liverpool during the summer of 1911. Culminating in a massive general strike of all transport workers, the movement displayed some of the most extraordinary scenes of class solidarity seen in Britain.
An in-depth look at the worker-student action committees of France May '68
First issue of an irregular workers' bulletin put together by users of the website, libcom.org. This issue focuses on the 2008 pay dispute over sub-inflation pay offers.
For Immediate Release:
Anarchist Federation Gets Makeover.
A political group that has been dogged by its bad reputation, and sometimes alienating name has decided to do something about it. The Anarchist-Communist Federation of Edmonton in a bid to rebrand itself has taken up the name of “Motherhood and Apple-Pie Association of Edmonton”.
“It’s not so much that we want Communism”, says the secretary of the new Association Bryan Mayoh, “it’s more like we want Christmas to be every day”. The effort to rethink their image came after a long conversation with a dump truck driver at the Garneau pub who accused the group of eating babies and wanting to steal his ’87 Cadillac. “We decided to do some real soul searching about the kind of image we put out there” said Mayoh.
Graduate students from the Political Science Department lauded the decision. Claiming the previous name was class-reductionist and alienating to many people. Seashell, a local environmentalist said it was definitely a group she could get behind. “Apple-pie is awesome and cruelty free” she said.
“This is more than just a name change though” states Mayoh firmly. “It’s an entire revision of how we see our politics. You see it’s not that we are against bosses and politicians, it’s that we think that someone really needs to sit down and have a chat with these people”. The group has decided they need to think more about how the message sounds and less about what is actually being said. “Not doing this has led to hurt feelings in the past, and the last thing we want people to think Motherhood and Apple Pie stand for is being mean”.
As an example Mayoh says that from now on the group will stop talking about “the working class” and instead simply refer to “the people”. Also there will be less of an emphasis on issues like poverty, sexual harassment at work and police brutality as those issues “are downers”.
The strategy already seems to be working too. At their open house in the Garneau neighbourhood they gave away free pie and hugs, at the meeting their membership tripled with many people taking out membership cards. One new member said “I have no idea what these folks are talking about but their flyers are printed on really nice paper and they seem really nice. Besides maybe this is somewhere I can get a girlfriend”. It looks like for Motherhood and Apple-Pie the future is bright indeed.