Collective bargaining campaigns
Submitted on: 20 Oct 09
Website Address: http://www.opseu.org/caat/parttime/parttimeindex.htm
Tags: ,Americas, Canada, collective bargaining, Ontario Public Service Exmployees Union, OPSE
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Collective bargaining campaigns are the bread and butter for trade unions.
Unfortunately, finding examples of these campaigns in the Internet is difficult.
There are a few examples (for example, here and here), but by and large, they don’t seem to be something that unions put up on their websites. This could be because many unions cover small employers. Even so, only a few unions are making full use of their websites.
Furthermore, most unions seem to host their collective bargaining sites on their main site. While this ensures that the main union site “captures” all the page and unique views, it can also mean that the content is drowned out by all the other stuff on the site.
An interesting collective bargaining campaign site, hosted on the union’s main site, is from the OPSE (Ontario Public Service Exmployees Union).
In addition to a nifty logo and great colour palette, the site also has YouTube videos of members, and useful information such as voting times for the agreement certification. The URL (collegeworkers.org) on the logo redirects to the main union site.
While the site is fairly small, and contains no downloads of posters, leaflets or other information for members who visit the site, it is a good start.
While we host a lot of collective agreement info and negotiations updates etc on our site, I think our best idea was running the organising around school support staff negotiations on a social networking site – see http://www.fairdeal.org.nz It doesn’t look like a conventional “collective agreement” site, but it’s generated huge energy amongst our members and in particular has been a great forum for support staff leaders communicating with each other and boosting the morale of the negotiations team. Check it out!
At least in the public sector in Maine, there’s a feeling that saying anything in the least bit openly about the collective bargaining process is evidence of bad faith. In order to keep the process out of the public eye (and, imho, to be able to blame the union later) many public employers emphasize (wrongly) with their employees that the process is hush-hush until it’s over. As a union rep, I have a hard time getting negotiating teams to communicate with their membership – let alone publish anything on the web!
Hi Stephanie,
The Fair Deal site is exactly the kind of site that I was talking about – with a clear focus.
I’m personally not a fan of Ning at all, but I know quite a few unions or union relation projects that use it.
Can you download campaign materials (such as newsletters or posters) from the Fair Deal site?
Cheers
Alex
Hi NancyEH,
Good point about a lot of bargaining happening “hush hush”. There are times when this is appropriate, and others when we need to bust open the bargaining to members (especially when it drags on).
Cheers
Alex
Hi there,
I’m one of the organizers behind this campaign and also put together the youtube videos! Thanks for profiling us from Canada:-) The communications team at OPSEU is totally a dream team!
I just wanted to say that I’m so happy to have stumbled across this site and am very excited that there are those out there in the union movement who want to take grassroots engagement to the next level!
Will definitely be checking this site regularly!
In solidarity, Kiera.
Hi Kiera,
Thanks for the kind words, and I’m glad you like our site. We’re always happy to show off a good campaign.
Cheers
Alex
Greetings all,
Thanks for the congrats on the design of the college part-timers vote yes campaign (www.collegeworkers.org), which has gone well. It is actually a union certification vote campaign, and not a bargaining campaign as such. The graphic design of the vote campaign grew out of a recent bargaining campaign by the same union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. It had the same designer, Jason Crowtz, so that explains the look. Of greatest interest was the public relations aspect of bargaining campaign, which harnessed public opinion to make significant contract gains for part-time “casual” workers employed by the world’s largest liquor buyer, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Follow the evolution of the campaign at http://www.opseu.org/lbed/collective.htm. Start at the bottom of the page and read up!
By the way, your site is a pleasure to look at!
In solidarity,
Randy
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