New Memebr introduction/orientation?

it's definitely a good idea.

the Bay Area wobs do an 'introduction to the IWW' session. in fact, i have electronic versions of the paper/worksheets that go with it - pester me by PM and i can email them to you

Yeah that would be great. I emailed chicago @ iww.org a few days ago but haven't heard back. In my experience a lot of the branch contact emails don't get checked too often.

There should def be a "internal resources" section on the main website where such things could be posted up. Could be a mix of public pdfs and those requiring a website login to access?

The whole website needs an overhaul - its confusing with too many options but too little actual usefulness.

seconded. creating a more participatory website (a la US or Australian sites) is going to be discussed at BIROC - it'd definitely be worth pushing the issue there.

I totally agree Button. In Edmonton the aqpproach I am taking in my part of the educational is actually more about educating members how to use the structures at their disposal as a way of demonstrating the politics of what we are doing. From a radical union perspective this is particularly important because it allows us to nip any red baiting in the bud. We start with explaining the basics of our model of direct democracy and how our union operates internally (or at least how it is supposed to ) and then go on to explain that this sort of democracy is what we advocate in the economy (as well as in politics at large). Generally speaking this track is a lot more productive than going on about 'libertarian communism as a federation of workplace and community assemblies'.

The intention of this is to make the most theoretical stuff not come off as heavy, and the most radical stuff sound as common sensical as possible.

ftony I do find it frustrating to get in touch with other branches. I have often found what is needed is to get in touch with specific members of the branch instead of the organisation as a whole. This seems undemocratic to me as it privileges folks who've been around longer. We should be able to contact other branches more easily. How else can we work together?

I agree with ginger that the website needs reorganisation, but I cannot think practically of what that might look like.

EdWob it would be awesome if you sent me what you are working on...
perhaps you might even want to publish it in Dump the Bosses once it's done? Or at least put something in offering to send it to other branches? hmmm... maybe all the branches could list written resources they have available that they could share?

aha, but if you've got yer GST's personal email address then it's much easier

you may have won this battle X3, but you have not wone the war!

In the Twin Cities we've started to use the Bay Area's intro curriculum, just to get the ball rolling. So far it works for us but there are some hitches. New members need a different thing than interested non-members. We tend to have a mix of both at our orientations. I think at the end of the summer we're going to start revising things a bit. That said, I think the Bay curriculum is really strong and is definitely worth checking out. EdWob, can you please email me the notes you're working on?

Right now our orientations are held once a month at a set time. Chicago doesn't do them that way, as far as I know, I think they just orient new people as they show up, with people assigned to make sure that happens.

Gwen if you PM me with your email address I can put you in touch with someone in Chicago who does orientation stuff. Their branch just changed secretaries so your email may have got lost in the shuffle, or the new sec may not know about that email address yet.

There are also some good intro the IWW pamphlets for new members around - a fellow worker from Chicago wrote one that's good, someone from my branch wrote one, and I think people in Portland have several things like this.

I like Button's comments about orientation not being "this is what we think" and that orientations can be a great opportunity to reflect on stuff. When I do orientations I present the bodies of the union, the preamble and stuff, and I'm honest about stuff I disagree about or if there's stuff that has been a matter of disagreement in the union. I also stress that I'm just one member and my opinions are my own, and I stress that since we're a democratic organization if they don't like something they should raise it as a matter of discussion and possibly start working to change it. That generally goes over well and it can help create discussion about why things are they way they are in the union, what the principles involved are, etc.

it's from Bay Area GMB i believe