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IBM virtual protest

from email:
http://www.uniglobalunion.org/secondlife
http://ibmslprotest.blogspot.com/

More than 1’850 -real- people protested behind their computers in over 30
countries to show solidarity with IBM Italy workers.
The protest took place at 7 IBM locations, and in particular at IBM Italia
and the IBM Business Centre in Second Life.
Many Italian IBM workers joined the event after work, from 7pm to 10pm
Rome, Italy time.

It was reported that Second Life was having some technical difficulties,
which is why we believe we could have reached an even higher number of
participants.

IBM did not officially react to our protest so far.
However, they did shut down parts of their Business Centre to visitors (or
really, protesters).
A number of participants managed to crash an IBM staff meeting during the
afternoon - where they were immediately asked to leave and to "protest
outside".
Instead, they demanded to speak to Management. But the staff meeting, which
seemed to be about the new IBM website functionalities, was called to an
end.

The media coverage for this event was impressive.
The news about the protest was covered by blogs, radio and TV stations,
newspapers and podcasts in numerous countries.
Italy's national TV station highlighted the event in the evening news
during 5 minutes, showing screenshots from Second Life and its almost 2’000
protesters.

More information about this historical protest will come in the next days.
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Guatemalan Banana Union Leader Murdered

Posted to the IUF website 25-Sep-2007


Masked gunmen murdered Guatemalan union leader Marco Tulio Ramírez Portela early in the morning of September 23 as he was leaving his home for work. Marco Tulio was secretary of sports and culture of the banana workers union SITRABI, which organizes Del Monte workers. His brother, Noé Antonio Ramírez Portela,is the union general secretary.

Tulio's murder follows a pattern of rising anti-union violence and institutional impunity in Guatemala. In July, the SITRABI headquarters was raided by uniformed soldiers using official vehicles, who demanded information on union officers and members. The union filed a full report with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Unit for Crimes against Unionists and Journalists.

The IUF has called on the Guatemalan government to immediately undertake a full and open investigation into this latest union assassination. You can support the struggle against immunity - Click here to send a message to the authorities. Copies of all messages will be automatically forwarded to SITRABI.
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Shakey Jake and me.

What a joy Shakey Jake was. He was always on the move, much like Ann Arbor. He spirit and energy will always be a part of the town.

Rest In Peace.
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This in from a friend of mine:

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She's Geeky (http://www.shesgeeky.org)
A Women's Tech (un)conference
October 22-23 in Mountain View, CA.

This event is designed to bring together women from a range of technology-focused disciplines who self identify as geeky. Our goal is to support skill exchange and learning between women working in diverse fields and to create a space for networking and to talk about issues faced by women in technology.
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I posted about the event and gone into some more detail about my motivations and hopes here.

Please forward to interested people.
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via Derek Blackadder :

As you may have heard, the union representing workers at IBM Italia is organizing what is likely the world's first online job action. In September the RSU will be calling on its members and supporters around the world to join in a picket at IBM's 'offices' in Second Life, the online virtual world.

You can sign up to receive an e-mail when the date and time for the picket are set and learn how to use Second Life by visiting a site set up by UNI, the global union federation for the service industries at:

http://www.union-network.org/uniwebmasters.nsf/slibm?openform

For more information about the job action and its potential see:

http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=443

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Derek Blackadder
LabourStart Canada
www.LabourStart.org
1-905-373-1897
Skype me as: dblackadder
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