[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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