“He who defines an issue – wins the issue.” An old but true adage. The Building Trades, with millions of members but poorly organized to work to support each other through structured use of the internet (which is the currency of the 21st Century), have clearly been out flanked by a dedicated anti-union movement. The ability of the anti-union to use the media to cast unions in a bad light, as well as having credibility with the middle class workers, is more than enough to have prior labor leaders turning over in their graves.
We can change that quickly and with huge benefits to workers! Mastering the use of the internet is the single most effective Organizing strategy now before us.
What makes leaders great is the ability to change & maximize ones strengths. The Building Trades’ single best strength is its members, half of which according to demographics have a solid knowledge of the internet and other social signals. For some unexplainable reason, many Building Trades leaders & their consultants continue to think that our combined internet use is up to par in the 21st Century. Many believe the Building Trades’ own internet assets, such as websites, Facebook, YouTube & Twitter, are advancing the message of unions. They are not. There is no structured inter & intra connection of our members. Our use to date is purely “social”. Two senior leaders at Google report that an International is viewed as an individual & does not have much more power than an individual member! These statistic’s are readily available.
Collapsing market share should make it painfully obvious to dedicated marketing staff that marketing through increasingly “interruption” type dead mediums isn’t working.
Anti-union contractors & end-users fear that the Building Trades will get their combined acts together in time to direct massive structured social signals outward. This is the mission of #Tech Combat & this ability would pay huge dividends in connecting workers with those who can best represent their interests. Use of structured internet will advance union contractors and displace non-union contractors. We can continue the failed Value on Display & open ended use of top-down or, quite literally re-shape construction markets and which contractors win & lose! This happens in ALL other markets except Unions every day. Structured use of social signals is the capital that politicians most want – Connections = Votes & Money! Endorsements are “nice to have” – connections are a “must have!” Think about Obama’s re-election – state of the art use of social media.
Perhaps at the next Annual Building Trades meetings in DC, instead of a parade of politicians speaking to us, we’ll see a structured plan to Organize and connect our members and Great Unions in order to get back in the game in the shortest and most measurable way available!
“if you see a good fight – get in it”
In Solidarity,
Danny L Caliendo
Organizer
www.laborcombat.com
blog.laborcombat.com
