Memes Explained From an AskReddit post on how to explain memes to your parents: Memes are a shareable image, gif, or video clip, often including text. They are an accessible global injoke. Each meme is funny because it feels like special knowledge, often referencing popular culture, or things that have cult status. It's a big joke that everyone knows about, and anyone can change to fit their specific idea. -Posted by HardAsFeathers ____________________ meme |mēm| noun an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. • a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users. DERIVATIVES memetic |mēˈmetik, mə-| adjective ORIGIN 1970s: from Greek mimēma ‘that which is imitated,’ on the pattern of gene. How can unions continue to remain relevant in a more dynamic world of labor? Kavi Guppta FORBES, October 12, 2016 Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaviguppta/2016/10/12/will-labor- unions-survive-in-the-era-of-automation/#26a88b9b3b22 There is no “one best way” for unions to respond to these challenges, but there is consensus that unions will continue to remain relevant only by anticipating and adapting their organizing and collective bargaining strategies to the continuously changing economy, labor market, demography, work organization, and human resource management. Successful stories on unions embedding transnational corporations come from their ability to engage themselves in international networks and collective action. For example, thanks to UNI Global Union coordination efforts, the North American management of SecureCorp was convinced to abandon an anti-union strategy and sign an international framework agreement (IFA) at the end of 2008, setting important standards which could be referenced throughout the service and commerce sectors. Similar cases can be reported from both US and European countries, where international framework agreements between MNCs and trade unions have been signed since 1988 (when Danone concluded the first IFA). Equally relevant for trade unions committed to the promotion of solidarity is establishing alliances with community groups and civil society organizations. Though driven by the initiative of the local mayor, an example can be brought by the so-called “KeepGM” movement: a multi-stakeholder campaign organized in the city of Lansing, Michigan in the 1990s when General Motors was facing serious economic troubles. The strategy involved the most important local actors, such as the public administration, the United Automobile Workers (UAW), the University of Michigan and GM managers: all committed to demonstrating the value of Lansing and its workforce against closure threats. Subsequently, a new technical education campus was built to expand training programs for GM, necessary infras.

1. Memes Explained
From an AskReddit post on how to explain memes to your
parents:
Memes are a shareable image, gif, or video clip, often including
text. They are an accessible global injoke. Each meme is funny
because it feels like special knowledge, often referencing
popular culture, or things that have cult status. It's a big joke
that everyone knows about, and anyone can change to fit their
specific idea.
-Posted by HardAsFeathers
____________________
meme |mēm|
noun
an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be
considered to be passed from one individual to another by
nongenetic means, especially imitation.
• a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied
(often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet
users.
DERIVATIVES
memetic |mēˈmetik, mə-| adjective
ORIGIN 1970s: from Greek mimēma ‘that which is
imitated,’ on the pattern of gene.
How can unions continue to remain relevant in a more dynamic
world of labor?
Kavi Guppta
FORBES, October 12, 2016

2. Retrieved from:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaviguppta/2016/10/12/will-labor-
unions-survive-in-the-era-of-automation/#26a88b9b3b22
There is no “one best way” for unions to respond to these
challenges, but there
is consensus that unions will continue to remain relevant only
by anticipating
and adapting their organizing and collective bargaining
strategies to the
continuously changing economy, labor market, demography,
work
organization, and human resource management.
Successful stories on unions embedding transnational
corporations come from
their ability to engage themselves in international networks and
collective
action. For example, thanks to UNI Global Union coordination
efforts, the
North American management of SecureCorp was convinced to
abandon an
anti-union strategy and sign an international framework
agreement (IFA) at
the end of 2008, setting important standards which could be
referenced
throughout the service and commerce sectors.
Similar cases can be reported from both US and European
countries, where
international framework agreements between MNCs and trade
unions have
been signed since 1988 (when Danone concluded the first IFA).
Equally
relevant for trade unions committed to the promotion of
solidarity is

3. establishing alliances with community groups and civil society
organizations.
Though driven by the initiative of the local mayor, an example
can be brought
by the so-called “KeepGM” movement: a multi-stakeholder
campaign
organized in the city of Lansing, Michigan in the 1990s when
General Motors
was facing serious economic troubles.
The strategy involved the most important local actors, such as
the public
administration, the United Automobile Workers (UAW), the
University of
Michigan and GM managers: all committed to demonstrating the
value of
Lansing and its workforce against closure threats. Subsequently,
a new
technical education campus was built to expand training
programs for GM,
necessary infrastructures (e.g. roads, utilities and environmental
cleanup)
were improved, and UAW embraced an interest-based approach
to
negotiations with GM (e.g. leading to fewer job classifications
and a two-tier
wage structure). The strategy proved to be successful: GM built
new plants in
the area and invested more than $3 billion.
A proactive communication campaign contributed to engaging
local
community and sending a clear message to GM headquarters in

4. Detroit.
Communication is indeed an important issue for unions willing
to create
awareness of their organization, encourage non-members to join
and
demonstrate the benefits of membership. The prevailing views
on this topic
argues that in face of current transformations (e.g. labor market
fragmentation, less stable employment relations), workers’
representatives
should embrace social media allowing for immediate
communication and
dialogue across vast distances and a potentially fast
mobilization of a large
number of workers.
Unions, indeed, have to be able to interpret and communicate
reality, take
responsibility and eventually engage in proactive initiatives
(e.g. promoting
relationships and a participatory culture in companies and
localities, even
within the framework of increasing age, ethnic and employment
contract
diversity).
What role can unions play in protecting casual or freelance
workers?
There are some reasons why organizing and representing
freelancers and
independent contractors is not an easy task. On the one hand,
competition
policy and law may represent a serious constraint for freelance
workers to
benefit from the right of trade union representation and other

5. freedoms
enjoyed by other workers. On the other hand, the self-employed
may have
contractual relationships with multiple clients at any point of
time. This
inevitably results in dispersion of contracts and space and a
fragmentation of
bargaining. By and large, the ambiguities of freelance workers’
occupational
identity (whether they are independent or semi-dependent
contractors)
engender basic organizational dilemmas for both workers and
trade unions.
However, there are many examples of unions organizing in
areas of casual and
insecure employment and substantial gains have been achieved
both in terms
of providing services to and building new constituencies for this
modern
workforce. The German trade union, IG Metal, for instance,
provides a virtual
place named faircrowdwork, where freelance workers (and
specifically
workers in digital platforms) are allowed to share views and
organize
themselves. The U.K. Broadcasting, Entertainment,
Cinematograph and
Theatre Union (BECTU) represents both employees and
freelance workers in
the sector and has signed an agreement with an employers’
organization, the
Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT), which

6. regulates labor
relations in the U.K. film-making industry. Finally, in the U.S.,
the Freelancers
Union has recently signed an agreement with Uber. The union is
in charge of
advising the company on how to create portable benefits for its
drivers.
How can unions be more involved within the organizational
structure of a company?
Union involvement in the organizational structure of a company
is not an easy
process. On the one hand, unions can benefit from labor
regulations and
socio-political institutions at the national or international level.
In Europe, for
example, the Directives 94/45/EC and 2009/38/EC impose the
establishment
of a works council and an appropriate information and
consultation procedure
in transnational undertakings or groups of undertakings
employing more than
1000 workers across European countries.
In Germany, co-determination allows works councils, conceived
as competent
negotiating partners, to work out solutions with employers to
improve
operations and increase productivity. Furthermore, in Italy the
Law 300/1970
allows union channels of workplace representation. This means
that only
those unions that have signed a collective agreement relevant to
the company
are consented to establish a workplace representation.

7. On the other hand, unions can enjoy the increasing diffusion of
the so-called
“High Performance Work Systems”, which are based on the
premise that
workers’ voice can play a significant role in enhancing a firm’s
competitiveness. Reorganization of production in the direction
of these new
work systems thus often implies frequent relationships and
negotiations with
both workers and their representatives. However, beyond
external variables,
unions willing to engage in the organizational structure of a
company have to
invest resources in building a culture of mutual trust with
management;
implying a shared understanding of common goals, good
communication and
joint efforts to resolve mutual problems.
Integrative bargaining can allow unions to have a role in the
organizational
structure of a company and achieve win-win agreements
delivering mutual
gains for both workers and employers. However, in times of
changing
workplaces and work forces, participatory labor relations
require unions to be
promoters of, rather than obstacles to, innovation and change.
Unions are,
therefore, asked to keep up with technological and
organizational
transformations, in order to be aware of issues at stakes for both

8. workers and
managers. To this aim, unions can find it useful to establish
relationships or
partnerships with universities, research centers and any
technical expert, that
can provide workers’ representatives with the necessary
knowledge to both
engage in fruitful negotiations with employers and successfully
interpret and
sustain the demands of their represented.
How are unions preparing for large-scale automation in most
skilled labor industries?
Firstly, it must be specified that unlike digitization, automation
of production
is a long-lasting union challenge, that traces back to the second
half of the
twentieth century. The innovation of current transformations
lies in the
combination of automated devices with increasing connectivity.
There is no
empirical research providing a general and homogeneous picture
on how
unions throughout the world are preparing for large-scale
automation.
However, many unions’ attempts to keep up with these changes
can be
reported from developed countries. In Italy, for instance, the
Italian
Federation of Metalworkers, FIM-CISL, has recently conducted
a study on
automation and its impact on production systems and the
potential role for
unions. Due to the shift from manual tasks to planning and

9. control, and the
urgency to assess the complex relationship between humans and
machines,
the Italian FIM-CISL is promoting professional training as an
individual right
for workers, which should be included in the national collective
agreement of
the metalworking sector. Finally, even though there is no “one
best way” to
reorganize companies in the wake of technological
development, it may be
contended that future organizations will require more
decentralized work
processes and highly flexible workplace interventions.
As a consequence, a serious union issue is to prevent flexibility
and less
hierarchical work structures. As the German model of co-
determination
demonstrates, workers’ participation in decision-making can
provide an
effective solution to this issue, allowing automation and
digitization to become
programs for success for both employers and employees. That is
why the
workers voice may be expected to become one of the main union
claims in face
of current transformations.
Discussion #1
Review the reading for this week (Can Unions Survive
Technology). Provide a response to this article based on what
you have learned in this course.

10. Interact with at least one other student.
Discussion #2
In many organizations, Employee Relations and Labor Relations
are the same department. Do some research on your own
organization. How is that set up? Who is responsible in your
organization for diversity and inclusion? Do you think they are
doing a good job? Why or why not?
REFERENCES TO USE!!!
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2012/0
7/12/11900/the-top-10-economic-facts-of-diversity-in-the-
workplace/
https://open.lib.umn.edu/humanresourcemanagement/chapter/3-
3-multiculturalism-and-the-law/
USE PDF attached as reference.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You and Winnie and Ralph are discussing GC's plan to hire
George Tacy as an agent for recruitment and hiring computer/IT
employees. You all recognize the importance of having a
clearly defined agency agreement, and there are different types
of agents.
1. Analyze and recommend whether Tacy should be an
employee of GC or an independent contractor? Explain why.
REFERENCES TO USE!!!
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_law-for-entrepreneurs/s23-
relationships-between-principa.html
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_law-for-entrepreneurs/s24-
liability-of-principal-and-age.html