Friday, December 19, 2008

ATU's no-media policy a bad idea: Nepean This Week

Nepean This Week printed an editorial this week about ATU Local 279 President Andre Cornellier's refusal to speak with the media, warning that it's tantamount to refusing to speak with the public--and a failure to get your point across.
"Cornellier has adopted an innovative strike tactic.

"Hear no media, see no media, speak to no media.

"One might as well say hear no public, see no public, speak to no public. Other members of the media have reported similar problems.

"How incredibly misguided and how incredibly arrogant.

"Cornellier would probably tell us – we can only guess – that his only responsibility as union president is to negotiate the best possible contract for his membership.

"No argument there.

"But communication and public relation skills will play an important part in brokering that deal.

"This isn’t labour action at the auto plant or the local megastore.

"This is a transit strike.

"It has upended the lives of thousands of residents: making it difficult for people to get to work, go to the hospital, or travel to universities to write exams."
The ATU has finally gotten some word out about their case, after launching an official website yesterday: www.ottawatransitstrike.com. Still, without cooperation with and from the media, the Union's case will suffer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The supposed media blackout from ATU doesn't seem to have materialised. Cornellier was reported to be issuing a
media release on Wednesday attacking the Mayor and having his union pep talks reported on. There have also been numerous statements issued by ATU 279 since, such as from Randy Graham.

A check of the Whois record for ottawatransitstrike.com shows that the web domain was set up on Monday, five days after the strike began. Too little, too late for the ATU to properly get its message out.