This isn't exactly a full-blown labor links roundup, but I've recently found a couple examples of unions using Facebook in interesting ways, and I thought I'd share them here.

First is Change to Win's Facebook app, Smack the CEO.  Written by CtW online communications director Jason Lefkowitz, Smack the CEO is a fairly straightforward game that allows you to compare your salary to that of prominent union-busting CEOs.  When you sign up, the app asks for your salary.  After signing up, you're asked to invite friends to join you in the game.  As you recruit more friends to the application, their salaries add up; hopefully, after recruiting about a bazillion friends, your combined salaries add up to the CEO's.  For disclosure's sake - I've worked with Jason a bit on fine-tuning the instructions and help text for this application, so I have a bit of a stake in its success (although not a monetary one).  Although at first I was a little put off by the way it asks for your salary up front, more and more I think it's appropriate.  The most popular Facebook applications are really, really simple - they basically involve ornamenting your profile, playing a game, or dressing up the traditional Facebook wall/poke mechanism.  This application falls into the game genre squarely, and still it manages to a) educate Facebook users about the wage gap, and b) give users some idea of what union organizing is actually about - adding up enough of your friends to take on powerful people.  That's pretty impressive, considering the fairly rigid formula for success as a Facebook application.

Incidentally, Jason and I have discussed using Facebook for more elaborate quasi-organizing.  I'd really like to see something like that take shape.  For example, I'd love to see a some kind of widget which allows coworkers to gripe about work online, perhaps with some anonymization to prevent recriminations at work.  Or I'd love to see a "sign a union card" Facebook application, perhaps similar to Younionize but with the advantage of higher exposure.  I've suggested similar kinds of approaches to online union organizing before, but I think it would take a fairly sophisticated online community builder to make it work, since my hunch is that most people are generally very cautious about openly discussing work gripes online.

The second example of unions using Facebook recently was this clever guerrilla event which takes advantage of Facebook's new Pages feature.  The idea is to support the WGA strike by signing up as a fan of one of the shows which is currently on strike; I chose The Office.  Once the friend request is approved, you can pursue all kinds of mayhem, light writing comments on the show's wall, or changing your user photo to some graphic which indicates your support of the writers.  Of course, the idea is to embarrass the networks and encourage them to negotiate in good faith already.  This is a pretty simple idea, but I think it could have some potential.  Why not replicate this same tactic with WalMart, Verizon Wireless, American Eagle, or FedEx - all of which are currently targets of various union campaigns?  Moreover, it seems to me that this kind of campaign opens up a new avenue in eActivism applications.  Currently eActivism for non-profit advocacy organizations is limited to some pretty simple functionality - make a donation, signup for an email list, send an email to your congress person, and sign a petition (and actually, those last three actions are pretty much identical).  But why not expand the capabilities of non-profit eActivism applications to include this kind of Facebook activism?  It'll be interesting to see if the large non-profit web developers like Convio, Kintera or Grassroots Enterprise pick up the slack on this.

Finally, while it's not on Facebook, I encourage you to take American Rights at Work's FedUp with FedEx pledge: don't ship with FedEx this holiday season, unless they change their union-busting ways and allow their drivers to unionize.

Anything else interesting in the world of labor on the intertubes?  Add a link in the comments!

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Welcome to tonight's Edwards Evening News. Today, the Edwards campaign unveiled the America Belongs to Us campaign with a goal of getting one million voters to sign a pledge not to vote or caucus for any candidate who takes money from lobbyists and PACs. America belongs to all of us, and we're taking our country back! Click the image to sign the pledge.

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We have to recognize the relationship between global warming and "global warring". Just as dependence on foreign oil has led to wars in the Middle East, allocating an outrageous amount of our budget to the Pentagon facilitates and preserves this dependence on foreign oil. Dennis Kucinich understands this connection and so, as stated above, will slash the Pentagon budget by 15% as his first step to move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable and renewable fuels and energy sources. As stated above, this money will go to education, as well as creating his Works Green Administration (WGA). The WGA will couple the EPA with NASA to develop new technologies to utilize alternative fuels and energies.

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I just got back from NBC/Universal where John Edwards walked with writers who have been on strike since November 5 when negotiations for a new contract with the studios broke down.

When I first arrived, it was primarily writers walking with signs, some of which identified the shows they write for, others had silly solgans like "What Would Billy Wilder Do?" As passing cars honked in solidarity, the writers walked and chanted, led by a rotating stable of impassioned leaders whose voices were threatening to go with every shout:

"What do we want? A contract! When do we want it? Now!"

and

On strike! Shut it down! Hollywood's a union town!

Once Senator Edwards showed up, there was an immediate buzz and  the various members of the media who were there swiftly surrounded him so that as he walked, picket sign in hand, a sort of media blob with him at the center moved as one, every now and then yelling "tree!" or "rock!" to alert people walking backwards that there was soon to be an obstacle in their path.  

Edwards finally did make it over to an area where he could stand on a bench and address the picketers with the aid of a bullhorn. Rough transcript below.

It is a great privelege to walk your line with you. What you represent is that we make sure that everyone in America has a fair chance. This is about justice, fairness and equlaity and it is so important that we build the labor movement in the US to make sure these big corporate conglomerates don't take over. Your brothers and sisters around the country walk with you and stand with you. They are in this cause with you and I am in this cause with you and I will be with you every day as president.

The place really went nuts for him. The line about being with them every day as president really scored. Judging by the money race as well as anecdotal evidence, Hollywood is very much a Clinton and Obama town, but the goodwill he generated by showing up today was palpable. I overheard one writer saying "it's really cool that he came" and another saying "I wasn't sure before but this seals it for me, I'm voting for Edwards."

He'll still be in town tomorrow for the LCV forum, which I'll hopefully be liveblogging starting at 1:30pm PST (Edwards, Kucinich and Clinton are attending.) As for the dueling Edwards/Clinton rallies outside the forum, unfortunately, the Edwards rally has moved.

Here are details if you're in the area:

What: A supporters' gathering for John Edwards
When: Saturday, November 17, 2007 - 2:15 p.m.
Where: NE corner, intersection of San Vicente & Wilshire Blvd., West Los Angeles

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Dennis Kucinich's approach to the economy is so practical and farsighted, I sometimes wonder why it isn't discussed more; even by Kucinich! But, I guess Iraq is always the dominating issue.

However, amazingly, this plan addresses: balancing the budget, tempering the Pentagon war machine, fair taxation reform, leveling the business sector to enable small businesses to compete, our $800 Billion trade deficit, worker's rights human rights and environmental concerns, the millions of outsourced jobs, and  rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure-while at the same time creating more national wealth with millions of jobs, promoting renewable energies and saving families money on bills! It is insanely practical and wholly part of his message of "Strength Through Peace" for America.

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