I wrote this to Communications Department of Texas AFL-CIO:

Hi Katie and tech-savvy Texans,

As Ed Sills retires, it seems to me that email blasts are on the wane. Someone needs to come up with a new standard for labor communication and start trying to get all labor activists to use it. 

We need to complete the move from our computers to our phones. A standard for labor communications would bring together the energies  presently being thrown this way and that and make a coherent and more effective system.

I think Angi DeFelippo of Tarrant County might have done more work on this. I believe she uses WhatsApp, the most popular texting service. 

It is significant that Action Network now offers free mass texting. The labor radio podcast network now has about 200 podcasters. Heaven knows how many labor bloggers there are.

What I want

For my part, I’m technologically challenged so I may not know very well what the options are, but I know what I want. I want free and open access for everyone with info or an opinion; but at the same time I want one-way, top-down, info from elected leaders. Ideally, the elected leaders would have a person or a method of monitoring the many comments (I call them blabbermouths) and discerning what really needs to go out to all activists. Serious activists don’t have time to chat all day, but some information is vital.

I understand that Telegram offers both channels with full access to chat and one-way top down channels that people can subscribe to. I think they call it “broadcast.”

I also understand that Facebook Messenger has some good features. People can chat away all day on it, but the elected leaders can “broadcast” from official FB pages or Instagram. 

I don’t think encryption matters. In fact, I’m not sure it’s even a good idea, since we want to reach the public as much as possible.

Travis tells me that his union has already developed a special app for their members. A special “Texas labor” app might be the answer we need, but I imagine that some of the free services might be as good. They might be even better because, again, we want to reach the public.

Nearly all proposals, including this one of mine, are free.

If you agree with me that we need to set a standard for labor activist communication, why not convene a meeting of labor communicators with some proposals and try to reach a decision?

In solidarity

Gene in Dallas

I’m on KNON.org and 89.3FM every Saturday at 9AM Central Time. If you are curious about what I really think, visit my personal web site