On May Day I went to the opening of Union Island, the brand new secondlife island for trade unions from all over the globe. I was greeted by John Wood from TUC (picture on the right), who also is the organizer of this international platform.
Here is a transcript of what happened over there:

john: hey Marcello!
john: happy may day!
You: Hi John how are you doing?
john: very good
Erdenesaikhan: Bro John, How much is the minimum wage for Germany?
john: ah Erdenes - here is PLATOON who is talking about that
You: hello everyone! Happy May Day!
You: Erdenes, unfortunately we don’t have a minimum wage in Germany…that’s why we are doing this campaign…and we are fighting to introduce a minimum-wage of 7.50euro per hour.
You: so, where are you guys writing from?
Erdenesaikhan: I'm from Mongolia, in Ulaanbaatar
You: oh wow
VarvaraUNI: i'm from russia
You: oh privet…
You: so you represent some of the russian and mongolian unions?
Erdenesaikhan: I represent Uni-lcm
VarvaraUNI: my union is trade union of managerial staff
You: hey Erdenes...nice flag
Erdenesaikhan: I did it, I'm very strong with my MAY DAY flag, Please give mongolian trade unionists some May day greeting...
You: We are all very glad to have this chance of being together on this important day… WORKERS DAY!...and hope we´ll make our voices heard in every corner of this planet… to represent all people who deserve a decent life and a fair pay for their work. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS!!!!
Erdenesaikhan: thank you so much!!!
john: Amen to that PLATOON!

john: So Marcello - how are things going in Mainz today, with the Real version of this exhibition??
You: im sure they are up and running with the puppets by now!
john: It must be hard to use the puppets all day! are they as big as the ones here in SL?
You: in proportion they are bigger but they arent very heavy.
Prometheus: what is "arm trotz arbeit?"
You: Arm Trotz Arbeit means WORKING POOR.
Prometheus: are there a lot of working poor in Germany, too? Are there hungry people in Germany? food pantries?
You: Uhmm...mostly ANGRY people..... but yes, in comparison to our society most of them are poorer.
but of course no one is really starving over here. Which is still not a reason to shut up and accept being paid a meagre wage. our campaign is in fact mostly about paying a fair wage for a good job, to good people.

You: hey john have you heard of Europe´s Workers Day in Slovenia? 35.000 unionist coming from all over europe gathered in Ljubljana at the beginning of april.
john: yes - a huge event. ETUC have some posters about it in our SL library.The size of the European demonstrations always embarasses us in the UK - we don't really have big demonstrations in our culture.
You: i went there to film the event and made this shortcut...you can watch it here.
john: thanks I will
john: did everyone see the ver.di film here yet? I think it's really impressive.. there aren't many unions in the world who think about campaigns on such a big scale, as ver.di…. very imaginative campaigning
You: well there will be many more RL events....and all the German unions are getting stronger these days.....
john: Do you think that such high profile campaigning is helping unions?
You: Well, it´s getting to the people!
john: The work with billboards and painted buildings must have been seen by millions in Germany
You: Yes, “genug gespart!” was a very successful nation wide campaign…. i think it´s good to find alternative ways to approach people...and also spend the money of our members wisely and in a constructive way.
john: It's interesting, as the campaigns cost a lot in Germany and many unions will not spend so much money but it seems to have been worth all the money.. for the campaign benefit and also for more members.
You: i think it is a duty of unions to reinvest the money given by their members to represent them better with effective campaigns.
john: Thanks for that PLATOON, and good luck with the ongoing campaign.