The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was one of four Change to Win unions that participated in the YearlyKos, a convention of progressive web bloggers, last week in Las Vegas.
The first of its kind gathering drew more than 1,000 bloggers and more than 100 members of the mainstream media.
The Teamsters were very well received. Several blog writers and readers thanked the union for fighting the fight and offered their support and encouragement. The Teamsters Communications Department exhibited at the convention and distributed brochures and 64 MB USB flash drives preloaded with information that linked to Teamster.org.
The concept behind the USB drives was to introduce the bloggers to the Teamsters in a high-tech manner they could appreciate. It demonstrated how the union is taking action on the very issues they are writing about—the high cost of health care, labor issues and rights, port security, rail and highway safety, secure pensions, trade and corporate greed.
Bringing the bloggers to Teamster.org was intended to show off the resources and content available, so they would use the site as a resource when writing about these topics.
The Teamster representatives also gathered contact information from bloggers so they could start the Internet buzzing the next time the union takes on the bloggers’ key issues.
"I think this is a great demonstration of how Teamsters are capitalizing on new technologies to get our message out,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “These bloggers are a shot in the arm to the democratic process. And it is terrific that they are hungry for information about the Teamsters. But this is only one step in starting the conversation online. I encourage any member who reads these blogs to participate in the netroots movement and bring Teamster power to the web.”
Other Change to Win unions exhibiting or participating at the convention included the United Food and Commercial Workers, which had a booth about their Wake Up Wal-Mart web site; the Service Employees International Union, which helped sponsor the event; and UNITE HERE. Greg Tarpinian, Change to Win Executive Director, also participated in a panel discussion, entitled "Labor and Power."
The convention drew national attention and such Democratic notables as California Sen. Barbara Boxer, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority
1 comment:
this is awesome! I'm so glad the Union is moving into the 21st century. Now if we could just get the locals moving.
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