Dear Folks, For the last couple weeks there has been a pretty lively discussion about which offshoring issues the NWU might tackle and how to go about doing that. In the meantime, the spring 2004 special offshoring issue of the American Writer should have reached you, with the Offshoring Maze on the cover. The discussion on this list and the American Writer articles suggest some work that would help in formulating an offshoring strategy for the union. The current electoral season provides important incentive to move forward. 1. Position Papers: The discussion on this list has pointed to a few issues that list members feel are important in convincing potential allies that offshoring runs counter to some important national interests. - Offshoring threatens personal privacy - Offshoring uses public subsidies to undermine the livlihoods of American workers - Offshoring threatens vital national infrastructure systems Bruce Hartford has suggested that such positions be researched and written up as "white papers" and issue summaries for use in any campaign. That seems like a very sensible suggestion. 2. Alliances: Both on this discussion list and in the American Writer, reference has been made to what other organizations and unions are doing on the offshoring issue. This activity needs to be researched, and we have to determine where the NWU has interests we can pursue in common with other initiatives. 3. Legislation: It will be important for us to know what legislation is in the pipeline both locally, state-wide, and at the national level. In dealing with a specific timetable for any of this work, we will need to assess the resources we can bring to bear. I want you to know that the National Executive Committee, at its meeting two weeks ago, asked that I help organize the effort to propose a specific anti-offshoring campaign for the union. The NEC also provided some limited staff resources (Kenya Briggs will be working part-time with me) to help spearhead that effort. Our ability to do anything as a union depends more on the voluntary labor we can devote to this issue than it does on staff assistance. So as a concrete step, I will soon be asking members of this discussion list if they would be able to help in the investigations required in areas #1 (position/issue papers), #2 (what other organizations are doing), or #3 (what legislation is in the pipeline). In the meantime, it would be good to hear your response to Bruce's specific proposal, to the articles in the American Writer special issue, or to what I have just summarized above. Al (1st VP, NWU) SF Bay Area