Download Communication: theory and practice EN

... communication plays a fundamental social
function…
…is the process through which
our personalities and institutions are built…
…We live within the communication…
…and the patterns of communication
we live within
build our social worlds.
Barnett Pearce
Communication and human condition
Communicate:
Do something together with other persons
Work and build shared visions and actions
On equal footing
Sharing responsibilities and power
Practicing democracy
Bottom-up or top-down?
Communication
gr. koinè
community based on
Shared language, values and habits
lat. cum (together) + munis (gift-task),
Communitas (community)
To share. What?
To participate. How?
To build something together
for a shared benefit.
Who decides? Because:
Communication is a human right
Trade unions must be capable to communicate:
1) among its own structures
2) with its members
3) with unorganized workers
4) with other trade unions
5) with the employers
6) with the public opinion
7) with other organizations in the society
8) with political institutions and state administrations
9) with men and women with different social origin and
10) concepts and contents of high moral value
in a globalized world …..
4
The legend of Hercules and Antheus
Search for links with communication:
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
FREEDOM OF OPINION
NON DISCRIMINATION
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Trade unions
•
•
•
•
•
•
democratic
free
independent
representative
organizations
of workers
Any word of this
definition
should be interpreted
also through the lens
of communication:
how?
• WHAT TRADE UNIONS SHARE WITH
WORKERS?
• TRADE UNIONS FOR THE WORKERS OR
OWNED BY THE WORKERS?
• WORKERS EDUCATION AND COMUNICATION
The metalworkers’ union in Turin example
Shared identity and culture: speaking in local dialect
in executive board meetings. But…
In the Sixties…thousands and thousands of workers
migrate from the South of Italy to Turin
And this shared identity changed
How?
The first elected member of the EB
who didn’t come from Turin
(he came from Sardinia)…
…started intervening during meetings
in his own dialect (nobody understood him)…
…and Italian became the shared language.
Search for visibility in workers’
struggle
The Worker Knows
300 Words, the Boss
1000, That's Why He's
the Boss
[also inside workers’ organizations]
Dario Fo, Nobel prize for Literature)
Add examples and problems to the list
• Top down
• Closed
Leadership
• Monarchy vs.
democracy
• Only nr. 1 is
visible in media
• Bottom up
• Shared
Ownership
• Representation
• Decision power
Add examples and problems to the list
• Identity
• Family
• religion
• Ethnicity
• Soccer teams
And where is work?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Diversity
Precarious poor jobs
Un/under-employed
Men/women
Migrant
Fragmented labour
market
• Young-old
Add examples and problems to the list
• Information vs.
communication
• Who creates
news?
• Work invisible
for media
• Communication
• World of work
as source of
news
• Breaking the
glass ceiling