Dine on Labor

I recently attended a labor forum where T-shirts were given out that read “agitate, educate, organize.” Good enough advice, but if labor is to survive, and thrive, its foremost task right now is this: communicate, communicate, communicate. The reasons for this could fill a book, (and come to think of it, just about did) but in this limited space here are four points.

1. The public regards labor as largely irrelevant. It’s anything but, but unless trade unionists explain why in a period of a growing assault on workers and the middle class labor is as important as ever, people won’t connect the dots between their own travails and labor’s weakened status
2. This election looms as tailor-made for labor’s issues to occupy center stage, if union activists and rank-and-file workers can explain why they’re everyone’s issues.
3. Crafting and communicating a clear message hasn’t necessarily been labor’s strength, but with a bevy of committed and talented communications folks now in place, it’s something that’s within labor grasp, whereas other goals such as organizing or making gains in collective bargaining are far more elusive at the moment, given the balance of power between labor and management.
4. Increasing public understanding of what labor’s all about and boosting its public image would have an impact on all aspects of labor’s activities, from organizing to negotiating to politicking.