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Labor Media: Time for a Revival |
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by Sheila McClear and Marsha Niemeijer via goodriddancegipper
(No verified email address) |
08 Jan 2005
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Following in line with other pieces posted here that discuss and critique media while formulating possible responses, here is a good article from Labor Notes, a very good monthly published out of Detroit. Its points are well worth considering, especially for people in labor organizations who find their needs ignored by Democrats as well as Republicans. Cheers. |
New Leaders of Labor Communications Group Set Ambitious Goals
Labor Media: Time for a Revival
by Sheila McClear and Marsha Niemeijer
January 2005
At least a third of union members who came out last November voted for the most anti-union president in recent memory. Would a more democratic, activist, respected labor media have made a difference?
Labor has no national newspaper, radio show, or television show competing with the corporate versions, and the labor movement dumps millions of working people’s dollars into advertising and efforts to spin reporters, with negligible results.
New leaders of the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) want a strengthened labor media that activates both union and non-union workers and competes with Disney and Time-Warner in setting the terms of public debate.
ILCA, an AFL-CIO affiliate created in 1955, is made up of communicators who work on newspapers, magazines, newsletters, websites, radio and TV shows, and public relations departments of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions.
In 2001 some forward-thinking board members were elected and in November 2003 the ILCA convention elected as president Marty Fishgold, editor of an AFSCME local paper in New York. The new board is changing the formerly stodgy organization, providing new services to members, building alliances with independent media outlets and media reform campaigns, and working to democratize and re-emphasize labor media.
As the labor movement declined through the decades, labor media declined disproportionately, being one of the first areas unions cut. Unions failed to develop a network that could deliver one powerful message at a time to their media, much less the means of listening to the voices of the rank and file, and they did not fund media or train media workers adequately.
Over the past decade, that neglect has increased as union dollars have been poured into television advertising, consulting fees, and futile attempts to influence the corporate media.
The ILCA has begun to turn this around. The old ILCA held an annual contest but otherwise appeared drained of life and ambition. Some changes and some new programs include:
Independence: The old ILCA rigorously followed AFL-CIO policy, whereas the new ILCA takes independent positions on media issues.
Associate members: ILCA is reaching out to independent media outlets and freelance journalists and producers, and signing them up. Examples are Labor Notes, the Economic Policy Institute (a pro-labor think tank), activist campaigns like Stop Killer Coke and Good Jobs First, and the publications of unions not affiliated with the AFL-CIO. ILCA is also signing up locals that do not yet have a publication or a website, in order to help them develop those tools.
Networking: ILCA now networks with organizations like the Unity Journalists of Color Convention, the Society of Professional Journalists, Free Press, Media Channel, the Independent Press Association, and other community, ethnic, and independent media organizations.
Support for union and regional labor communications associations: ILCA is providing workshops at their meetings, offering services, encouraging more publications to join, and promoting the creation of new associations in sections of the country that lack them.
Recruitment: Thousands of union publications have never belonged or have let their memberships lapse. There are several hundred publications currently on the ILCA rolls. There should be several thousand.
TRAINING
Master labor communicator certificate: ILCA is working with the National Labor College to develop a comprehensive program with a standard curriculum that will allow students around the country to earn credit toward a certificate. ILCA is also working with the Teamsters and other internationals to develop a model curriculum to train labor communicators.
These trainings will treat public relations as one element of labor communications, demoting it, as Howard Kling, director of the daily electronic newsletter Workday Minnesota, has written “from the lofty heights of guiding principle to one tool in the communications and media toolbox of labor.” That toolbox will emphasize training members as public speakers, interviewees, letter and op-ed writers, and media activists.
Labor Advertising Network: Selling advertising space to union-friendly companies often involves more work and more risk than unions want to take on. The ILCA board has approved the creation of a new agency that will deliver ads (and revenue) to labor papers from pre-screened companies, eliminating much of the effort and red tape. Contact the Network at mnaftolin (at) laboradnetwork.com or 314-531-0535.
Internships: ILCA is connecting members with intern programs at journalism and communications schools. This effort could make would-be reporters aware that they can pursue their careers without selling their souls to Rupert Murdoch. The jobs board and freelancers board on the new ILCA website also serve this purpose.
If these initial projects grow, a Labor Communicators Summer—an intensive program aimed at recruiting communications students into labor media—may be on the horizon.
Website: ILCAonline.org is a means of sharing content among member publications. Members post articles, images, audio, and video, organized in categories such as “Health Care” or “Wal-Mart,” and use those of others. Thus an important story not touched by the corporate media no longer begins and ends in one labor publication.
The articles and columns express a variety of viewpoints, not necessarily supported by ILCA, and visitors are encouraged to post their comments. Articles are picked up by Google News, one of the busiest sites on the Internet, thus attracting a lot of traffic and pulling it back to ILCA members’ sites.
National newspaper: ILCA is helping draft a proposal to fund a feasibility study for a national labor newspaper.
Democracy: In the old ILCA, only those who could afford to attend conventions could vote on constitutional issues, and executive council meetings were closed. The new ILCA uses mail ballot voting by members and has opened board meetings to all members. In the past five years, the ILCA did not publish its newsletter, the Reporter, regularly. The new Reporter comes out every two months and has inaugurated a letters to the editor section.
Next July, Chicago will host ILCA’s 50th anniversary convention, at which members will debate a new vision for labor communications. |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
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Re: Labor Media: Time for a Revival |
by goodriddancegipper
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Jan 2005
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Here is an article from the Indianapolis Star that might receive fuller treatment and greater attention with the ascension of alternative labor media. Ah, life under the GOP sure smells funny...
Daniels ends union pacts for 25,000
With governor's executive order, some state workers lose right to negotiate pay and benefits.
By Kevin Corcoran and Mary Beth Schneider
kevin.corcoran (at) indystar.com
January 12, 2005
Gov. Mitch Daniels canceled union contracts covering nearly 25,000 state workers Tuesday, saying they stood in the way of his efforts to rapidly overhaul Indiana government.
The order, which will end the ability of those employees to negotiate pay, benefits and work rules with state officials, ends a 15-year policy that Daniels' three Democratic predecessors maintained by choice.
Daniels, a Republican, said he was ending bargaining rights partly to form a separate agency to handle child welfare and child support without having to consult with union officials. The state has been criticized for its handling of several highly publicized child abuse cases.
"This is an important day for children in Indiana. . . . It's an important day for reform of government," he said Tuesday, flanked by a group of child advocates outside his office.
The governor said rescinding the state's union contracts would make it easier for him to boost the pay of child welfare caseworkers and high-performing state employees. Daniels' actions won't affect pay raises that state workers are to receive this year.
Reaction from the affected employees, who include state troopers, welfare caseworkers and prison guards, ranged from applause to disappointment.
The unions had bargained for health care subsidies, handled workers' job-related grievances and protected employees' rights during disciplinary proceedings. Daniels' move also means workers lost seniority rights in bidding for jobs, transfers and vacation time.
Members of Indiana's Black Legislative Caucus slammed Daniels' executive order.
"It is hard to reconcile the words of our new governor on his first day in office with his actions on the second day," Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, the caucus leader, said in a written statement.
"Gov. Daniels has spoken long and loud about supporting those hard-working state employees who dedicate their lives to helping the people of Indiana, but now it appears that he does not support their efforts to earn a decent wage."
Republican lawmakers were quick to praise Daniels while emphasizing his actions do not signal the beginnings of an anti-labor movement in state government.
"There are political implications to this that we will have to watch," said Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, and executive director of the state Republican Party.
During last year's election, Indiana's two major state workers' unions, the Unity Team and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, supported Kernan. A smaller union representing State Police, conservation officers and Excise Police remained neutral, but the Indiana State Police Alliance, which is not a union, endorsed Daniels.
Half of the 35,000 state executive branch employees earn less than $29,738 a year. About two-thirds of those workers have been represented by unions.
In place of the contracts, Daniels gave more state workers the right to appeal firings, demotions and suspensions without pay to the State Employees' Appeals Commission. That five-member panel, appointed by the governor, can reverse personnel decisions.
"We will insist on full protection of employees against any arbitrary or unfair actions," he said. "In many ways, life will not change at all."
Daniels broke the news Tuesday to union leaders during a brief meeting at the State Personnel Department in the Indiana Government Center. His chief of staff, Harry Gonso, and his personnel director, Debra Minott, stayed behind to talk with union officials after Daniels had departed to announce his executive order.
UAW Region 3 Director Terry Thurman, who attended the meeting with Daniels, said later he wasn't surprised but took issue with the governor's reasoning.
"If he thinks we're not interested in protecting children, he's way off base," Thurman said.
Daniels said state workers could continue to join unions, and unions could keep collecting dues from members with the state's help. He also said his personnel director would meet every three months with union officials to hear their concerns.
Practically speaking, however, union officials say there's little they can do without bargaining power. They say that in the past, the appeals commission upheld 98 percent of management decisions, and that union grievances resulted in fairer outcomes.
"Quite frankly, how many people are going to want to pay for something they're not getting that much out of?" said Keith Gill, the public safety union's president.
Indiana is unusual among states because this negotiating authority, not found in state law, had depended on each incoming governor signing a new executive order. Daniels chose not to renew that order and then rescinded contracts that were supposed to run through mid-2007.
At least 13 states have laws on the books giving state workers collective bargaining rights. In Indiana, the Democrat-led House has passed bills to create a collective bargaining law, but the Republican-controlled Senate has blocked it every time.
Now both chambers are under Republican control, and a collective bargaining law is unlikely.
Some state employees were troubled by Daniels' decision.
"It's a horrible idea," said Irene Hansen, who works at the Indiana State Library. "The union is the only safeguard against management taking advantage of employees. This turns back the clock for Indiana."
Francis "Fuzz" LeMay, president of the Unity Team's Local 9212, said the union will close up shop and about 10 union representatives will go back to their regular state jobs at agencies such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Family and Social Services Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation.
"Obviously we're disappointed. There's nobody who will speak up for state employees now," said LeMay, a prison guard.
Daniels got a different reaction when he dropped in later Tuesday on a meeting of a couple of hundred Family and Social Services Administration employees. They were meeting their new bosses and learning more about how Daniels intends to break up the agency to create a separate agency to handle child protection and child support collections.
When Daniels asked if anyone had questions, no one raised a hand until one man spoke up.
He didn't have a question. Instead, he told Daniels he and others respected him for making what was surely a tough decision to end collective bargaining.
The auditorium broke into applause.
"Thank you," Daniels said, with some surprise in his voice.
"When I heard or read that people were simply not doing the job they were paid to do, and therefore putting kids at risk, and could not be moved or sanctioned, that got my attention," he said. And, he told them, "I hope fervently it will work out very, very well for every worker in government in the state of Indiana."
Daniels' actions
Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday:
• Eliminated the collective-bargaining rights of nearly 25,000 workers represented by three unions, including the right to negotiate pay, health benefits and work rules.
• Left in place pay raises then-Gov. Joe Kernan negotiated with state workers for 2005.
• Rescinded working-condition contracts with the three unions that were to extend through mid-2007.
• Extended the right to all permanent, full-time state workers who are not upper managers to file complaints with the State Employees' Appeals Commission to protest firings, demotions or suspensions without pay.
The unions involved
• AFSCME: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 62 represents 8,638 employees, including hospital attendants, welfare caseworkers and professional health care workers.
• The Unity Team: This alliance between the United Auto Workers and American Federation of Teachers, through Local 9212, represents 14,654 employees, including mechanics and secretaries.
• International Union of Police Associations: Local 1041 of this union, also known as the Indiana Professional Law Enforcement Association, represents 1,377 Indiana State Police troopers, Department of Natural Resources conservation officers and State Excise Police officers.
Sources: Governor's office, State Personnel Department
Executive orders
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed four executive orders Tuesday:
• Collective bargaining: Rescinds executive orders extending collective-bargaining rights to state workers, as well as existing contracts that spell out work rules.
• Indiana Department of Child Services: Creates an agency separate from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to handle child protection, foster care, adoption and child support services. Transfers remaining responsibilities of the former Division of Family and Children, such as welfare cash assistance and food stamps, to a new Division of Family Resources.
• Office of Technology: Places the state's computer systems under the control of a single office.
• Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: Transfers FaithWorks Indiana and the Indiana Commission on Community Service and Volunteerism to this faith-based office that will be responsible for seeking federal grants.
Star reporters Eric Martin and Michele McNeil contributed to this story.
Call Star reporter Kevin Corcoran at (317) 444-2770. |
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