I am joining the AFL-CIO. . .
April 1, 2009
UPDATE: I can’t take it anymore, this was - in fact - an April Fools joke.
First, let me be clear, this is not an April Fools joke. After long consideration I have decided to accept a position at the AFL-CIO to work on social media outreach. The focus will be on helping union leadership connect with information workers who spend time on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites. I will be based in Washington D.C. at headquarters and my family will be moving to a suburb located in Virgina (my birth state). You can now follow me on Twitter as @aflcio and reading my posts on the afl-cionow blog.
Many of you will be surprised by this move, first because I said I would never leave Dallas and second because I am rather conservative in my political beliefs. I believe America is going through a sea-change in its political and economic structure. In eight years we won’t recognize this nation and perhaps that is a good thing. America is like a mature bush in need of serious pruning. I believe that liberals and conservatives need to come together to solve our problems, but it is time for conservatives to accept the new reality and work ‘within’ the system instead of railing against it from outside.
As a member of the AFL-CIO I will work for greater union membership across all industries, but I will focus on greater trasparency. The union should be for and about the members, not the leadership. Furthermore, John Sweeney sought me out because he wants to change the image that the union is anti-business to a more neutral stance. Of course, as John explained to me, in the near future more and more businesses will be owned by the union. For example, the newly reorganized GM will be 50% owned by union members. It will be more and more important for the AFL-CIO to manage its image and role as both union and business owner.
I am very excited about the opportuntiy and I hope I can win each of you over.
