New Labor: International Union Organizing Via Second Life

Last week, representatives from the AFL-CIO and the UK-based Trades Union Congress gathered at Second Life's Union Island to discuss strategies to combat union-busting moves.  Most concerning, according to the island's official blog, is how "US union-busting companies are increasingly crossing the pond to work for UK employers."   Though still unsure how effective SL is as an organizing medium, a British activist who attended writes about its potential as "an effective means for trade unionists to be able to communicate across the world."  While they talked, their avatars even had the option to drink virtual pints of Worker's Beer.

Update, 11:00am: Union Island, of course, is founded by organizers of the successful protest on IBM's Second Life campus last September.