USW@Work - National College Players Association - United ...

GOODYEAR CONTRACTThe contract campaign and subsequent strike at Goodyear required the USW to push its communications efforts out to newparameters.In addition to distributing Solidarity Alerts and Bargaining Updates to our members, we maintained a negotiations website and posted information to the USW web site. As the strike wore on, we added Investor Alerts and another web site for WallStreet and the investment community.Local, national coverageEach local had designated media contacts that worked in conjunction with the International to make sure our stories were gettingcovered by newspapers and broadcast media. These efforts resulted in solid print, radio and TV coverage in local as well asnational markets, contributing to unprecedented levels of community support at our strike locations.We purchased billboard space and ran a series of radio spots in our plant communities. Later, media buys were expandednationally to coordinate with demonstrations at major cities throughout all USW districts and the AFL-CIO's National Day ofAction. That effort included radio spots in New York during NASCAR week, as striking workers joined USW staff and others inthree days of actions and protests in the heart of Manhattan.The Wall Street Journal ran a major story on our "viral marketing campaign" after we posted our TV and radio spots on thepopular YouTube Internet site. On the first day, our TV spot jumped into the Top Twenty most viewed videos.Media push pays offAs the campaign escalated and we bore down on Goodyear, the USW bolstered its efforts by contracting with a notedWashington, D.C. labor public relations firm. We extended our media push into more national markets by further publicizing ourrallies and demonstrations, and through placing opinion and editorial pieces in newspapers all around the country.In the end our efforts paid off. Our members remained solid on the picket lines. The communities gave us great support, andGoodyear and Wall Street recognized that the only solution was returning to the bargaining table and negotiating a fair and equitablecontract.USW@Work • winter 2007 11