Social Media Blitz to Sway Members
Leaders at the United Auto Workers union have launched a social-media blitz to help sell a new tentative labor deal ahead of a critical vote this week, hoping to persuade skeptical rank-and-file workers to support the pact after poor communication contributed to a previous agreement being rejected by a wide margin.
UAW President Dennis Williams and other union leaders are touting the latest deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Facebook pages, with a barrage of postings and infographics aimed at detailing what union leaders say are the contract’s potential benefits. The UAW has hired New York-based public relations firm BerlinRosen to help hone the social-media strategy, including advising on how to present postings and when.
Many Fiat Chrysler factory workers and industry observers faulted UAW leaders for failing to clearly communicate the tenets of the previous deal. Voting on the new contract starts Tuesday and concludes Wednesday at Fiat Chrysler’s nearly two dozen U.S. factories and facilities.
“I’m definitely against them using our money to pay for the PR firm,” said Marcelina Pedraza, 40 years old, who works at Fiat Chrysler’s factory that builds Jeeps and compact cars in Belvidere, Ill. “I mean, we can all read…And how hard is it for the union to do that work?” She said she was going to vote against the latest pact, contending it does “nothing but shuffle things around from what we were offered before.”
Still, the UAW’s social media pages largely went silent during the previous vote, leaving many workers frustrated and confused and allowing opposition to the deal to gain momentum. It was the first time in more than 30 years UAW members rejected a tentative national labor pact with an auto maker.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
