[HacktionLab] virtual picket line technologies?
flour at aktivix.org
flour at aktivix.org
Mon Jan 30 14:47:40 UTC 2023
One of the ways that employers subvert picket lines is to hold
meetings by zoom or other online software so as to allow workplace
events to happen but individuals who might otherwise be turned away by
a picket line don't have to see that line. More and more work is in
services or coordination or planning type work so virtual meetings can
be useful to coordinate work from home (none of this really applies to
factory or other fully on-site work obviously). The use of
work-from-home workplace coordination platforms like
teams/zoom/SLACK/code management platform software/etc has all grown
because of the pandemic. The original meaning of the word direct
action comes from the workplace, to strike- direct action at the means
of the production. All very easy if the workplace is a place.
Has anyone heard of tech that supports virtual pickets? Or
discussions about the internet as place where pickets can occur? Are
their bulletin boards where this question could be re-posted?
In the upcoming strike by UK university lecturers and school teachers
(every university in the UK and many of the schools) there will be
advice in many universities to teach online so as to allow ambivalent
staff who would not want to cross a picket line but might (if they
couldn't see anything that made it seem unusual) follow a management
instruction to teach online. Likewise university students, many of
whom don't quite know what a strike is.
Online meeting links have to be posted, usually in the online class
forum (an intranet for teaching- there are several main learning
management software that are used by universities- for example
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle ). There may also be a
university students classroom list available. Usually any member of
the intranet community has access to this. I wonder if there are
software not that complicated to use that would be able to scrape an
available intranet for online classroom links that could then be
paired with a re-mailer that sent all participants a video email of a
picket or even a video message and opportunity to join a virtual
'street' of picketers for an alternative class or conversation.
Looking for something that could be pieced together and much more
respectable/graceful/grown-up than zoom bombing (and not illegal/thus
suitable for union-support-campaigns).
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