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The Metro New York Labor Communications Council's 33rd annual convention on Friday, June 13th held a panel called "Communicating Labor's Agenda for the 2008 Elections." I was honored to be part of this panel to speak about innovative strategies for education and mobilization through the use of new media. This entry will go into a few of the items discussed with the hope that the word can spread even farther about online organizing, educating and mobilizing -- as well as open a discussion here on the topic.
I started out by talking of Union Review and how it got started and why. This was not to blow smoke up my own ass -- but to drive home the point that there still remains a tremendous void of labor news and opinions in the mainstream media. And while a lot of us work at union communication departments, it is apparent, at least in my opinion, that not all of us are using the many tools in our tool boxes to get information out; whether it is about the presidential campaign, a strike, or anything else.
With that in mind, I tried to present the tools that we use at the Teamsters Union (where I work) and other tools that I use on my own as an everyday labor activist. These tools include:
- Endless Email
- Private Listservs
- Downloadable Fliers
- Video
- Recorded Audio
- Forward to a Friend Features
- Report Back Forms
- Blogging
- Bulletin Boards
- Text Messaging
It is important to note, if it is not obvious, that this is not an exhaustive list; there are many other Web tools that we can use, however, the above are the ones that I am working with the most often and why they were brought up when at the podium.
There are obstacles that we all face in our jobs -- regardless of what our jobs happen to be. In labor communications we deal extensively with an older vs. younger age gap. What this means is that the younger generation will have no fear approaching a MYSPACE or FACEBOOK page to spew out about anything from the shoes they wear, the music they listen to, or the unions they love (or don't love). The older generation tends to be a little more guarded, uncertain and less open. The older generation are not always the best with computers, have tech-phobias and cannot break from the mentality that communications = printed materials. Yet, I stongly believe that labor communicators can, should and will break through those obstacles because for one, it is our job and for two, if we don't, we won't get read, heard or understood.
And now a little story about a public housing worker we can all learn a thing or two from: Last month at the Local 237 rally I met with a woman who cleans the buildings at one of the public housing projects. We were talking about how bad the budget cuts affect her work. She told me that she and others are at the point of going out and buying the Clorox and other cleaning supplies that they need to do their job -- and paying for it out of their own pockets. She explained that no one is saving receipts and turning them in - and for the most part, don't really care about the reimbursements. She said, "I need the building clean and so I do what I need to do." This woman's attitude is a theme among many working people. We don't accept obstacles, even internally ... we work around them, fight them, negotiate through them; and we prevail. And while we might not have the same hardcore fight and struggle that this woman has in our union offices, we must convince the naysayers that our future is determined by what we fail to learn ... and our future is already 10 years behind the eight ball, it is as simple and hard as that.
I am of the opinion, and I hope that I was able to make this clear today without sounding arrogant, is that if we don't learn the technology to the point where it does for us what we need it to do -- we are not doing our jobs. The sign of the times is such that we are not just labor communicators, journalists and writers ... today we have to be writers, editors, publishers and syndicators. For many of us, we have to hone in on our negotiation and sell-skills to prove to our unions that this is the direction we need to go in -- and as mentioned, we are already kind of late.
The Teamsters Union and many others are working with the available technology that is low costing, manifested by union members and most often even free. We are able to use the technology to organize, mobilize and educate. We are able to reach out about the elections on password protected websites, and have one-on-one conversations with members who are simply unsure if they want to vote for Obama or not. These online discussions would not be taking place with 1.4 million members if the union did not have the presence that it does online.
The Teamsters are not alone. There are sites from all the major unions with something about the elections, the Employee Free Choice Act and the many issues that face working people.
While we spend a great deal of time learning the issues and framing the messages, we have to consider that some megaphones are simply broken waiting for us to grab the next right tool to get heard.
Finally, I think that any discussion on new media is a worthy one, and I'd be honored to host that chat here in this thread. Also, if anyone has a picutre from today's event, please post it here or send to me so that I can, my email is Richard@unionreview.com.
