I started down this road on another site...

Imagine, if the 50th gathering of the AFL-CIO had come to understand the power of the net, and the ability to reach millions of union members and especially those not in unions.

Imagine of the media had been invited to witness and participate in this dramatic new approach of an open, energized and engaged movement.

Imagine if over the past year, the boys in power had built the largest and most aggressive network of interactive websites where workers could follow the convention. If only they had the foresight to set the stage so the convention was about workers and their problems...and develope solutions to solve them.

Imagine the convention being streamed across websites with workers having the capacity to inject their two cents worth. A virtual union hall for all workers and a place for them to voice their concerns, and more importantly, where someone would listen.

For that to have happened, we needed to break free of the foolish trappings of what organized labor has become. We needed to have leaders who were building this kind of aggressive and technical strategy rather than the infighting we are seeing by those wrestling for power and control.

I know, these kinds of dreams of what could have been are the ramblings of a hopeless romantic who still thinks organized labor could still become a movement. Sadly, it will never happen under the biz union model.

Someday; maybe someday we will come to see just what we could be if we ever let go and dreamed bigger, planned better and used the technology available. I'm not holding my breath, but i know it's all there. The question is just how we get there from here.