Labor Union Blog

The envelope, please….The winner of LabourStart’s first labor video contest is “What have Unions Ever Done for Us?” a Monty Python-esque look at a scowling CEO and his minions as they prepare to bring a union to its knees.

The contest drew more than 200 entries and after an international panel of judges chose six finalists, more than 3,000 people cast their online votes.

The Australian winner was produced by Your Rights At Work, the Australian counterpart of the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America. After the CEO explains why he wants to bludgeon the union, he asks, “What have the unions ever done for us?”

To his increasing irritation and agitation, his underlings begin ticking off “maternity leave…paid vacations…occupational safety…health care…workers’ compensation…pensions.”

His final response isn’t printable here.

Click here for links to the winner and the five runners-up. All the films will screened at the LabourStart conference, July 9-11, 2010, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

LabourStart features daily labor news provided by a global network of more than 500 volunteer correspondents in more than 20 languages. Its news syndication service is used by some 700 trade union websites.

Rescue workers searching the Upper Big Branch coal mine near Montcoal, W.V., located the bodies of four missing miners, officials announced early this morning. Their deaths bring the toll from a massive explosion April 5 at the troubled Massey Energy mine to 29–making this the worst coal mining disaster since 1970.

Read more about the tragedy and the history of safety and health violations at the mine here, here and here.