I'd very much like to go to the Labor Notes conference next year, but the cost would be prohibitive. Me and a young member from the Hotel Workers' branch in London who also wants to go have set up an appeal to raise money to make it possible.
If you follow this blog you'll know that we'll do a detailed report back, so hopefully if we can go it will be useful for many more activists in the UK.
The text of our appeal is below, and if you want to contribute, please click here: gogetfunding.com/uktolabornotes2016
Help Ian Allinson & Nilüfer Erdem go to the Labor Notes conference in Chicago
We're union activists from Manchester and London who need your help to go to the
Labor Notes conference, which takes place in Chicago 1-3 April 2016.
Labor Notes Conference:
- Involves thousands of union members, officers, and labor activists
who are on the front lines in workplaces and communities,
organizing new workers and agitating together. Meet troublemakers from
around the country and around the world.
- Comprises more than 100 meetings and workshops include creative
organizing tactics, beating apathy, running for local union office,
winning contract campaigns, bargaining over technology, understanding
the economy, life after “right to work,” and reviving the strike
Why help us?
We've already found some of Labor Notes
publications
useful and think there will be a lot of ideas which can help workers in
the UK organise. If your help enables us to go, we will post a detailed
report online. If your union body sponsors us we'll do our best to come
and give a report in person.
Who are we?
- Ian Allinson is an activist in Manchester, where
he's the senior UNITE rep at the IT multinational Fujitsu. In 2009 he
led the first national strike in the UK IT industry. Ian served on the
union's Executive Council for ten years. Ian is currently on the
National Industrial Sector Committee the Graphical, Paper, Media and IT
sector. He runs iansunitesite,
a blog about union matters. In addition to activism and working full
time, Ian is currently doing a part time MA in Industrial Relations at
Keele University.
-
Nilüfer Erdem is an activist in London, involved in the UNITE Hotel Workers branch. She's active in the Fair Tips campaign and in organising young, migrant and precarious workers. Nilüfer is a member of the London & Eastern region's Young Members' Committee.
What will it cost us?
- Conference tickets will cost $210
- Flights will cost us around £1000
- A shared hotel room will cost us $125 a night, so at least $500 in total
The total is approximately £1500.
