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Public Relations


RougeWelder

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With contract negotiations starting, I believe a PR campaign would benefit the membership and anyone else that produces a product that allows their company to rake in huge profits. I am aware that this would be costly, but I think members would not mind a few million $$$ spent on informing the public the reality of working at an automotive facility and the impact our wages and benefits have on just about every job market. With just about every large corporation posting huge profits and all the ridiculous $$$, benefits, and bonuses given to top level personnel, the fact that the cost of labor is handcuffing corporate growth should be brought to light as ridiculous propaganda spewed by companies to alter public opinion. All of the "bad" things said about us goes unchallenged. The public will hear about an isolated incident and then believe that it applies to all. Heck, the public believes auto workers are lazy, do nothing, and sleep all day. We all know that is just not true, yet it is allowed to be put out there, unchallenged. It never occurs to the general public that if all autoworkers did nothing and slept all day, how do we produce so many quality cars and trucks? The reason for this, unfortunately, is that the general public believes what they hear. For that reason, I believe our side needs to be put out there. Not in the format of a few smiling workers in a commercial, but in a format that truly shows the hardship of the labor force and also points out the responsibilities companies have to the people that produce their product and the communities that surround them.

 

I realize this will spur many sarcastic responses, but does anyone else think a massive PR campaign on our behalf could change public opinion? With the billions of dollars in UAW coffers, would $100 million for a PR campaign be wasted?

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Fuzzy, Axle, I, and the welder are paying (dues) for more that a few six figure salaries to who???? International UAW Public Relations Representatives....

 

Yep, if you you up the IUAW LM-2 (#000149) then scroll down through the lists of "employee`s" while looking at the titles of these people listed you find.... Public Relations Representatives.

 

So... believe it or not we have been paying PR people for at least the last 2 or 3 contracts to the tune of 126Kplus. Anyone else ever see any PR going on when those politicians were run the membership over with those high and mighty politicians buses?

 

We are a membership that gets more than our share of political bullshit from the DC politicians and the IUAW elite politicians.

 

PR a good idea if they would use our dues in a way that would benefit the members first.....

 

Decker

1 of the 1788

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The public already knows what we do and it's make big money for doing non skilled labor, you can tell the public a million times what really goes on but to them we are why the cars and trucks they drive cost so much, you can't change there thoughts, they have already formed their opinion of us!

So just give me my share of the money that would be wasted on this idea.

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Let me elaborate further. If there is one thing I've learned over the past week, it's that the UAW seems to be in it for themselves first and the membership a distant second.

 

Then we pay dues to a PR department to do what exactly? They don't stand up for us in the press, they don't do anything when the elected "leaders" in the government freight train us and say it's the union's fault the industry isn't doing better (conveniently ignoring decades of questionable at best business decisions).

 

But go ahead, keep using my dues money I pay every month like a good little soldier. It's the least they can do. I'll keep paying them because I an grateful that there is some chance those of us about to be laid off will be returning to work in the future.

 

Maybe I'm a little bitter because I'm about to wind up out of a job for an indefinite amount of time. I sure feel like I sound like it. I sure as hell feel for those in my position from MAP, yet where is the PR to say anything other than a little blurb from Jimmy Settles on how it's unfortunate but not unexpected. If it was expected, have a plan.

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Let me elaborate further. If there is one thing I've learned over the past week, it's that the UAW seems to be in it for themselves first and the membership a distant second.

 

Then we pay dues to a PR department to do what exactly? They don't stand up for us in the press, they don't do anything when the elected "leaders" in the government freight train us and say it's the union's fault the industry isn't doing better (conveniently ignoring decades of questionable at best business decisions).

 

But go ahead, keep using my dues money I pay every month like a good little soldier. It's the least they can do. I'll keep paying them because I an grateful that there is some chance those of us about to be laid off will be returning to work in the future.

 

Maybe I'm a little bitter because I'm about to wind up out of a job for an indefinite amount of time. I sure feel like I sound like it. I sure as hell feel for those in my position from MAP, yet where is the PR to say anything other than a little blurb from Jimmy Settles on how it's unfortunate but not unexpected. If it was expected, have a plan.

my idea is to hire a professional private public relations firm to accurately portray the autoworker. not some under qualified union rep assigned to the pr dept that got his job by being a union puppet.

Edited by RougeWelder
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my idea is to hire a professional private public relations firm to accurately portray the autoworker. not some under qualified union rep assigned to the pr dept that got his job by being a union puppet.

The PR guy has to be union you can't hire somebody to speak for you then the media find out that guy is just an actor!

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The public already knows what we do and it's make big money for doing non skilled labor, you can tell the public a million times what really goes on but to them we are why the cars and trucks they drive cost so much, you can't change there thoughts, they have already formed their opinion of us!

So just give me my share of the money that would be wasted on this idea.

The public will look at something like the latest door latch recall as being the fault of uaw members making big bucks. They do not realize, or care that the part was built by some non union plant, probably offshore, getting paid next to nothing to build this part, that was spect. by a Ford engineer that gets 3 or 4 times what a UAW member gets paid. They only see that the last person to touch the part was a UAW member, and their pay is stated with all benefits included as being 2-3 times of what the person on the line really gets. This is the mentality that you are fighting.

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While a balanced PR campaign certainly would not hurt, I have always maintained that an honest, imbedded reporter working alongside an upper management personnel on an assembly line for a few weeks would open a lot of eyes.

Yes it would. Hell, they could make one of those reality shows with all the drama and useless energy they exert. I think it would be a big hit.

Edited by RougeWelder
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  • 4 weeks later...

The PR guy has to be union you can't hire somebody to speak for you then the media find out that guy is just an actor!

I am not talking about a "PR guy"......I am talking about a PR firm that will run a national campaign to promote the UAW worker and improve the way the public perceives the union. That is what they do and they are good at it. A good example would be the oil industry. Look at the BP oil spill vs the Exxon Valdez disaster. That is 210 million gallons(BP) of oil vs 20 thousand gallons(Exxon Valdez). Due to public relations campaign, BP, for the most part came out smelling like a rose. Even though Hayward(BP CEO) was asked to step down, years later he was given awards for his leadership and received an honorary degree from a university. Generally, the public perceives BP oil as an environmentally friendly company.

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I know IUAW people read the subject matter on this site. Would any of you like to comment on the validity or the ridiculousness of hiring a Public Relations firm to enhance the public's perception of us? Most people on here are open minded and can accept legitimate responses as to how this idea would help or hinder UAW members. What we cannot accept is some politically correct response that sidesteps the question. And trust me, we all can tell the difference.

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