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Respect at work.
reâ‹…spect - noun: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.
- verb: to show regard or consideration for: to respect someone’s rights.
The theme of respect is one that regularly comes up for unions.
Why is this so?
The respect frame is a powerful one, that invokes self-worth and a sense of pride in one’s work. Most workers want to feel that what they do is valuable, both to the company, to customers or clients, and to co-workers. Lack of esteem held by managers or supervisors is often a point of dissatisfaction by employees. No one wants to feel worthless, or feel that the job they do is worthless. Having respect not only means that you held in esteem by peers and employer alike, but also that you have some agency over your working life.
For these reasons, respect is a powerful word and a powerful idea for unions to activate members.
One of many NTEU respect posters from May 2009
A rally by USA Teamsters Union
Do you know of any other examples of unions using the “respect” theme?
Leave a comment with a link.
When I put together this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JGt0sPyJq0) a few years ago it initially had Aretha Franklin’s RESPECT as the soundtrack and it was very cool, but decided I had to remove it to legally comply with copyright.
Respect is one of those catch-all phrases that has strong emotional resonance and helps fill the gap when the campaign or issue is too multifaceted or complex to capture in one or two words. As unionists we’ve got a bucket of others we use (dignity, fairness, equity, justice, empowerment…) but I reckon the best campaigns and communications strategies are when the concrete goal is so simple that it can be communicated just as simply. The EPMU ran a campaign here in NZ a few years ago called 5 percent in 05 – I loved the fact that it was straight up about what it wanted. Very easy to communicate, no hiding.
Hi Stephen,
I completely agree with your point that:
Simplifying complex issues (such as collective bargaining) is one of the chief challenges for union communication officers.
At the TUC we (well not me personally, it was back in 1996) recorded a cover version of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. with dozens of famous and not-so-famous singers and musicians and released it as a single and music video. It kicked off an annual “Respect” anti-racist festival in London, that was pretty successful until the new Mayor here axed it last year.
The Australian Services Union has campaigned around ‘RESPECT’ for community sector workers for the last two years. We have also had workers singing Aretha’s version (with a few changes)at rallies and mobilisations.
For more information on framing, people should have a look at Lakoff’s ‘Dont think of an Elephant’ http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/elephant