New AFL-CIO Latino Facebook and Twitter Up and Running
The AFL-CIO’s social media family is growing with the addition of our new AFL-CIO Latino page and a Spanish language Twitter feed. The new initiatives are part of the union movement’s continous efforts to reach out to the Latino workforce, especially younger workers. We want to hear stories from Latino workers and forge new ways to work together for workplace and social justice.
The new Facebook page—a www.facebook.com/aflciolatino—is oriented toward U.S. Latinos whose primary language is English and the postings are in English. Discussions on the page will cover issues important to Latinos and all workers, including education, workers’ rights, health care, politics and more. The page will be updated frequently.
After you like us on Facebook Latino, please share with your Facebook friends or with anyone who might be interested in Latino-labor issues.
Our new Twitter channel—www.twitter.com/aflcioenespanol—is geared toward those who speak Spanish. We want to engage in conversation with Spanish-speakers to learn about the labor issues important to them. It also provides an opportunity to share information with Spanish speakers, including news about unions, upcoming actions, politics and other issues.
Don’t forget our AFL-CIO Facebook page here and follow us on Twitter here.
ILCA Conference Nov. 19 Features Awards, Social Media Panel
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The nation’s labor press will come together in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19 to celebrate the best in their craft and to learn about new and better ways to deliver the union message at the International Labor Communications Association’s (ILCA‘s) annual conference.
The Media Awards luncheon highlights the event, with keynote speaker Ed Ott, former executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, set to discuss trends in nontraditional organizing drives and how theses techniques have been used successfully to help service workers win respect on the job.
During the luncheon, Jennifer Berkshire, a writer for the Massachusetts AFT Advocate, will receive the 2010 Max Steinbock Award, the highest honor given by the ILCA. In her story, We Wanted a Voice,” she recounts the successful effort by teachers at Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, Mass., to form a union.
Social Media: Tool for Balancing Work and Family?
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The union movement may have a new tool in its efforts to reach out to young workers who increasingly say balancing work and family is a top priority: social media. A new study finds that young workers may be especially receptive to union organizers who use social media.
At our recent AFL-CIO Young Workers Summit, we heard from the more than 400 mostly union activists that social media is key—but outreach among workers also should involve personal contact.
The new report by the Labor Project for Working Families, Cornell University ILR Programs and UC Berkeley Labor Center underscores what young workers told us, saying:
Although not a replacement for face to face interaction with workers, young women organizers are calling for greater social media training, resources and support to use these new tools more effectively.
Writing at the AFL-CIO California Labor Federation blog, Brandy Davis from the Labor Project for Working Families concludes:
Women and young workers value control and flexibility in their lives—these are core bargaining issues. Social media may be the organizing tool the labor movement needs to be the leading voice for workers on balancing work and family.
Read Davis’ full blog here.
Social Media: New Tools Aid in Organizing
They’re tweeting in Northern California about the Employee Free Choice Act, sharing about health care reform on Facebook in Montana and posting organizing messages on My Space for workers in York, Pa.
Across the country, union members are using the new social media to mobilize workers and share information.
Steve Selby, an Electrical Workers (IBEW) organizer in York, Pa., knows the value of social media. He urgently needed to reach 300 workers at a local Comcast office. Rather than standing outside the office and handing out a flier with different information each day, Selby taught himself how to set up a MySpace account. He handed out one flier directing workers to his MySpace page, where he shared information the workers needed to know.
