Daily Kos: Savvy Online Campaign Yields Victory for N.Y. Can Plant Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/29/932152/-Union-Organizing-2.0

by The Electrical Worker Wed Dec 29, 2010 at 06:01:42 AM PST

A unique campaign to boost membership in New York may be a harbinger of future efforts to strengthen workers’ voices on the job, where laptops can be as important as leaflets.

Nonunion workers at Anheuser–Busch InBev Metal Container Corporation in Newburgh, who make cans for Budweiser beer and other brands, were worried about their futures after the company was sold in 2008 to a Belgian group. Employees reached out to Electrical Workers(IBEW) Local 363 last spring for support – but the fear of captive-audience meetings, harassment and other actions by the employer left many at the plant wary of how to press forward without management sidelining their efforts.

So organizers got crafty and set up a special blog strictly for the 164 employees to debate, strategize, air concerns and ultimately come together for victory, all while avoiding many of the union-busting tactics so common in most campaigns.

Lead organizer Sam Fratto said the anonymous nature of the site – where workers did not have to use their real names – ensured that employees could express their views and ask questions without the threat of reprisals from management. Said Fratto, who serves as the local’s senior assistant business manager:

This was basically like having a 24-hour-a-day union and campaign meeting. It got the workers involved and allowed people to weigh in with questions and concerns before or after their shifts. It showed that they didn’t have to be afraid to speak their minds.

Rick Lewis, a 20-year veteran of the plant, said the blog "made the impossible possible."

FULL story at link.

[freshwest]

1. Any which way we can.

[DCKit]

2. No wonder the TPB wants (needs) to control the Internets. nt