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***** H.E.R.E. Gets a scoop. See their headline here. And after that check out the agreement in the forum.*******

Building Passion for the Union "Brand" [discuss this article]

Now or Never for the Labor Movement

by Tom Owens Originally published at www.ufcw.net

Consumer understanding is so much a part of marketing today that it boggles the mind that the labor movement continually forsakes involvement in such a critical undertaking. Make no mistake, and I don't care if we are talking about the AFL-CIO or the Change to Win Coalition, there is no future for the American labor movement unless it makes a concerted effort to understand their workers, their potential workers, and the general public; and to forge a new brand identity that can ignite passionate advocacy and self-actualization among members and non-members alike. That is where strategic advantages are gained these days, and the labor movement had better become accustomed to this approach, or they will continue to face a reality that George Will succinctly states in his column today (Solidarity Isn't Forever; 9/16/05): "American unions have long since lost their hold on the public's sympathy."

Earlier this year, I was invited to speak at an SEIU conference that was organized to discuss and visualize the structure and operations of unions in the future. My presentation stressed the importance of utilizing new research methodologies and brand management philosophies and techniques as a way for unions to re-establish a significant level of emotional resonance in the hearts and minds of their own members and the general public. The reaction that I received from the attendees was very telling, indeed, as a majority of attendees were very hostile in response to my presentation and attacked me for having the audacity to spur a discussion involving marketing techniques and principles. As one participant exclaimed, "We DO NOT sell a 'product' to our membership!" Oh, really? If asking a union member to pony up significant amounts of his/her hard-earned money every month for union dues in exchange for some perceived service or benefit is not "selling a product," then I must be living in some alternative reality.

But, contrary to the majority of participants at the SEIU conference, unions do sell. And unfortunately, unions continually operate with a strategic mindset that dictates that members and non-members alike are people to be sold to. I see this happening constantly, whether it is organizing campaigns or legislative or political campaigns. The labor movement is continually guilty of subordinating the needs of its members and non-members to its own.

Unions need to learn the distinction between selling and marketing. Selling focuses on the needs of the union; marketing on the needs of the member. Selling, in the union sense, is preoccupied with the union's need to find and organize as many members as possible; marketing, in the union sense, should be about the idea of satisfying the needs of workers by means of the "product" of union representation and a whole cluster of things associated with delivering and experiencing membership in a union.

I am sure that many in the labor movement will reply that I am full of shit. They will cite the fact that many unions obsessively rely upon the magic elixir of focus groups to keep their finger on the pulse of their own membership and general public. Unfortunately, focus groups are the most artificial types of conversations that exist on this planet! They are summarily useless. And what is the consequence of this obsessive reliance upon a tactic that has absolutely no basis of scientific foundation? The labor movement continually solidifies its existence of being a "consumer-led" brand. And there is a danger in this, and it is being spelled out in the marketplace where union membership as a percentage of the workforce continues its decline.

Through the "insights" they gain from the use of focus groups and polling, unions are constantly saying to members and non-member alike: "we can be anything you want us to be. Just tell us what it is; what features and benefits you want; what personality you like; what values you favor; what issue you are concerned about. Tell us, tell us, tell us! But what members and non-members (and the public at large) have at heart are their own short-term interests, not the labor movement's long-term health. Being a consumer-led brand works to hide an inner malaise that afflicts unions across the board - including the emergence of an inconsistent brand image and offering; a lack of real innovation and surprise; an increasing divide between what the union's brand can offer and what it is capable of delivering; and, perhaps most importantly, an increasing emptiness within the heart and soul of the union.

By obsessively trying to identify with members, non-members and the general public, unions are placing themselves in danger of abandoning their foundational belief. Unions are losing sight of themselves; what they stand for; what they are good at; and what they believe in. In the end, we have a labor movement today that has sacrificed authenticity, uniqueness, distinction, cohesion and pride. It has officially joined the ranks of other characterless consumer-led brands vying for the attention of an increasingly uninterested public.

Unions need to re-discover their core essence; their core set of values. They need to re-structure themselves so that they operate in a manner that allows them to articulate a new American ideology; that allows them to be really good at something that is really good for people. They need to re-gain their appetite for leading rather than following. And they need to evolve or else they risk death. All brands, including unions, need to stay current. Updating the labor movement's brand associations (e.g. logos, colors, advertising style, websites and other public touch points, celebrity involvement, etc.) are necessary.

But values are another matter. They are something deeper and something that must always remain intact. Values are a brand's belief; it's take on the world. It is the reason for the labor movement's existence, and it must therefore relate to purpose. But brand belief is not just a mission statement or vision statement. It is not just an attitude. And it isn't simply about social responsibility. Think about Google and its simple brand belief: "We want to organize the world's information." They have become very good at something that is good for people. And that belief permeates throughout their internal culture (creating an inspired and fanatically motivated workplace of "Googlers" - e.g. employees - that exceeds 2,000 and includes over 250 PhDs). They have cultivated a culture with the all-pervasive belief that what the company does really, really matters!

In order to achieve success in today's complicated, overly-stimulated world, the labor movement must strive to develop and articulate a brand belief that can achieve a level of emotional resonance whereby people (members and non-members alike; as well as staff and employees) will begin to self-identify with the labor movement. The questions they will ask are "What does my union membership say about me to others?" More importantly, they will begin to ask, "What does my union membership say about me - to me?" Once a union brand is accepted as part of an expression of self, it becomes that much harder to jettison. At that point, unions become a brand that people don't just join, but a brand that they live. Originally published at www.ufcw.net [discuss this article]

April 15 As reported on CNN Was this the best of all possible deals? And what about Intro 601 to stop condo conversions?

Plaza Hotel revamp curtailed

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The planned renovation of Manhattan's famed Plaza Hotel, which raised howls among New Yorkers enamored with its history, will be sharply curtailed under a compromise with new owners unveiled on Thursday by the city's mayor.

For nearly a century, the Plaza has received celebrities, diplomats and the very wealthy. It was a hangout for literary giants like Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker, and was the home of precocious children's book character Eloise.

New owners Elad Properties had planned to convert it largely to shops and apartments, but in a deal brokered by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the company will now retain almost half the hotel rooms and its lavish public spaces.

The tentative deal between Elad and union workers will save at least 350 of 900 jobs at the hotel that overlooks Central Park, the mayor said.

Israel-based Elad bought The Plaza last year for $675 million and planned to spend $350 million to put in shops, sell condominiums and close all but 150 of its 805 rooms.

Under terms of the deal, the Plaza will close for renovations for up to two years. When it reopens, it will have 348 hotel rooms and its Grand Ballroom, Palm Court, Oak Room and Oak Bar will remain open.

It will have 150 condominium housing units and small retail sites on its lower floors.

Elad's plans had raised a chorus of objections from New Yorkers who held weddings and bar mitzvahs there and frequented its bars to relax with a drink.

Around the world, children know it as the home of Eloise, the heroine of children's fiction who roller-skates through its halls and irks its stodgy guests.

"I'm elated," said Joseph Lamont, a Plaza bellman for 17 years. "The children and families really love this hotel.'"

Elad and the union bargained for five days, ending their talks early on Thursday, the union said.

"This is a result that truly is a victory for everyone. The ownership is truly delighted," said Lloyd Kaplan, spokesman for Elad.

H.E.A.R.D. fully endorses the The Save the Plaza campaign launched by the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council. Please look over their site: WWW.SAVETHEPLAZA.COM

October 6 While this news is not about our local unions we thought it would be of interest.

U.S. Labor Department Sues Trustees of Union Health Plan For Over Payment of Administrative Services
Newark, New Jersey - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued the trustees and service providers to the H.E.R.E. Local 4-69 Health Fund in Secaucus, New Jersey, for misusing plan assets to pay excessive and unreasonable compensation for services provided to the health fund, resulting in losses to the fund in excess of $2 million.....

Named in the lawsuit are trustees David Feeback, Theresa Alfano, Steven Silverberg and Stuart Elfenbein; and service providers Jersey Integrated Health Network LLC (JIH), Jersey Integrated Health Practice, Inc. and their owner, Manmohann Patel. The suit alleges that the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by paying excessive fees and commissions to Patel and his companies to provide a network of medical providers and administrative services to the fund. The service providers received the excessive commissions and fees from 1998 to 2002. The suit also alleges that the trustees permitted the fund to reimburse Feeback for more than $50,000 in unreasonable expenses....

Word has it that our very democratic union has not treated the workers at the health centers very nicely. All health center employees were offered "buy-outs" in August of 2003. They are being laid-off but if they wish to work in the new Harlem Center they must reapply like any common person off the street and yet train new staff at the new Harlem Center for positions they were denied. These employees are members of Local 153/OPEIU.

Some other curious facts about work at the health centers: 1) Security temporary workers make $25 an hour and Union security workers make $20 an hour. 2) Temps take one hour for lunch, do not punch in or out for it and get paid for lunch, while Union security must punch in and out for lunch and do not get paid for it. 3) Temps work at their convenience; they pick the tours that are good for them. Union security must change their tours and locations to suit the temps, many times the day before, with no regard for the Union security personal or family life. 4) Temps stay at the front desk, doing very little patrolling, while Union security must patrol all the time. 5) Temps take vacations and days off at will, while Union security had vacation days cancelled to suit the temps. There are a few other disparities but these should suffice for now. It would seem that union workers WITHIN the union have less rights than Hotel Union workers. What's the story here? We would like the Union to respond to these allegations.

Hotel Employee Advocates for Real Democracy Newsletter Vol.1 Issue 2 Issue2 August 2003

"It is not the function of our Union to keep the membership from falling into error; it is the function of the membership to keep the Union from falling into error." – paraphrasing Robert H. Jackson

Our Union has been doing a commendable job as of late with the enforcement of our contract. Our weekly newspaper, the Hotel Voice, regularly features wins against management at various hotel shops. This is a good thing, and all Union members need to acknowledge these achievements.

The most urgent issue facing our Union today is its total lack of democracy and subsequent lack of accountability of the Union officers to the membership. Part of the preamble to the Local 6 By-Laws states: The democratic control of our union by its members since its founding has been one of its distinguishing marks. Perhaps that was true 20 years ago but is certainly is no longer the case today.

One of the most essential elements of any democratically run organization is access to information. How many of the members reading this newsletter know the answer to the following two questions: How many membership meetings is Local 6 required to have? How many delegates to the Local 6 Delegate Assembly can you name and what hotels do they hail from? As to the first question, none. As to the second question, not even the writer knows the answer, yet, the Delegate Assembly is the representative body of Local 6!

We believe that it is necessary to amend the By-Laws of Local 6 to help open up this very closed and undemocratic situation.

We believe the following two amendments to the Local 6 By-Laws can start us off on the right track.

Section 2a: Meetings of the general membership shall be held at least once a year. The Business Manager or proxy will address the membership and deliver a state of the Union. This meeting shall take place each January the date to be set by the Executive Board. Special meetings of the general membership may be held at the direction of the Executive Board on not less than seven days written notice, mailed to each member at his last known address.

Presently there is no provision or requirement for Local 6 to hold any membership meetings. This amendment would address this serious lapse. The meeting itself would provide the opportunity for members to meet other members from various shops and possibly exchange ideas.

Another amendment possibly even more important than the above relates to the Delegate Assembly.

Section 7. The votes cast by members of this Local shall be counted, and the results for each office shall be announced and published separately in the union newsletter—the Hotel Voice—or mailed directly to all members, and the results for delegates to the assembly shall also display their respective hotels and departments. The Secretary-Treasurer shall preserve for one year the ballots and all other records pertaining to the election.

According to Article IV Section 1d of the Local 6 By-Laws, the Delegate Assembly is the representative body of the membership of the Union. If this is the case, how is it that Local 6 members do not know who they are or how to reach them? This amendment would help address this issue.

Do you agree? If you agree that these amendments can help us democratize Local 6 please send an email to petition@heardny.org

In order to amend the By-Laws of Local 6 it is necessary to obtain the signatures of 1000 members in good standing. (Come to think of it, the way our By-Laws are amended need some changes too.) If you email H.E.A.R.D. at the above address we will send you two petition forms for Local 6 members to sign.

Yes the wheels of change revolve slowly. The reservations delegate at W New York discovered that not only were Whatever Whenever agents doing reservations work (see March news below) but that Sales Assistants were also inputting and making reservations and modifications--at all properties. [ For those who are unfamiliar with what happened to the Reservations Department at Starwood hotels in New York City see August news here.]

After accumulating the necessary statistics showing that 30% of the reservations input was being performed by conference and sales managers--Clearly, non-union employees.--, the Delegate informed the union, which promptly called a meeting between the Union and management. The meeting was attended by Local 153 Business Agent, Rebecca; NYMHTC Business Agent Oscar; the Customer Care representative, Robert; Brad, representing Starwood; and Human Resources Director Eric. Brad, the Area director of the hotels in question, argued that the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in June of 2002, permitted non-union employees to perform Reservations tasks and that this was premised on one line: Reservation related work previously preformed by non-union employees would continue at the company's discretion. The reservation delegate argued that reservations work was not the same as reservations related.

We went back and forth on this issue. The Union representative implied that an "emergency meeting" might be required at each of the properties, (Emergency meetings entail calling everyone off work to a meeting in the hotel lobby.) or arbitration.

After looking over the report provided by the Delegate that demonstrated that non-union employees were doing 30% of the input, Brad realized that it pointed to a major flaw in this new system they had developed. He therefore decided that he would look over the situation to come up with a solution to this very sticky situation.

The Delegate has no problem in searching for solutions to this quagmire. The delegate is comforted by the fact that if taken to arbitration the Union will win. If perchance the Union fails, the Customer Care Agents still will win because: reservations work previously performed by non-union employees would continue at the company's discretion, therefore, Customer Care Agents need NOT perform them. We shall not be sharing work with non-union employees, period! When we consider the wording of the revised agreement's terms: As to...the five (5) current Customer Care Reservation Agents...Starwood may not terminate the ... Agents from employment by layoffs or other economic reason.

The Union had to send representatives to a W property to make clear to management that WW agents and non-union personnel are prohibited from doing reservations work. Oscar, from Local 6, & Rebecca from Local 153, were the harbingers of bad tidings to management. Oscar told management that illegal job combinations were never part of the deal they signed in May of 2002.

It seems that the $8 agents along with their "Atari" like reservations system in Massachusetts are unable to handle the simplest reservations task. Since the management has in effect eliminated on-site reservations staff they have had to open up the reservations menu to everyone in the hotel to make reservations and changes that guests are demanding. This has certainly thrown a monkey wrench in management's machinations to install a computer in housekeeping so that room attendants could effect changes as well--just kidding.

The issue is far from settled, however. Management has deluded itself into believing that only one of their five W properties must adhere to the prohibition of illegal job combinations. Fortunately for us, nothing could be further from the truth. I cannot give the details why in this space but the truth will out soon.

As a member of the Sheraton Customer Care (formally reservation) . I was wondering why all these so called update negotiation between Starwood and the Union only seem to reflect on the W Hotels? Are we not of the same company? Shouldn't any update/amendment to the contract reflect all NYC Starwood reservation departments? Or is this something as a "side agreement" limited to certain properties?

My next question is? Has Starwood been able to convince the union that all these so called changes in reservation fall under "technological" which requires job modification at their will? First, It was to down size the departments and transfer all the calls to Fall River- which we know is ineffective. Second, to have certain Internet bookings such as Travelscape forward to Fall River to process, we have even been told that larger convention groups booked thru housing bureaus such as Travel Planners will be forwarded to Fall River. The Sheraton has even been selected as a test hotel to have certain FIT's accounts book their allotments online. The bottom line is we are evolving into more of a "complaint and fix" department. It seems that this whole situation has already been mapped out for us since the beginning of these Starwood and Union negotiations. It's a shame we as adults are left in the dark with no voice, while we can see the writing on the wall. [ Go to Forum for an answer to these questions.]

The union and Starwood have agreed to now decentralize the W Reservations agents. Implementation to be completed by February 12th

The Union has taken notice of the working conditions that the reservations department is working under based on the pictures from this website and has requested that Starwood correct the situation. The options available are: find a bigger office, breakdown a wall in the current office, or decentralize! We shall see.

Michael Simo and Peter Ward were able to forge a new agreement with Starwood Hotels and Resorts that restores the job security of the reservation agents at W New York. This is very good news indeed; however, it does not protect the jobs of the Sheraton employees or the future of reservations in New York City. On behalf of my unit I thank the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council for making a major--albeit--incomplete correction.

I met with Mr. Michael Simo--President of Local 6 and Regional Director of the NY Hotel & Motel Trades Council--on Sept. 9 2002 over the revised wording of the Memorandum of Agreement. He is in agreement in principal that the agreement should be modified. Now it is up to Starwood and the lawyers to hash it out. Overall I had a good impression of Mr. Simo and he seems sincerely concerned. We shall see what time brings.