Local 63’s Patricia Aguirre (at microphone) and other group members present a mock press conference on health threats posed to workers and community by polluted port air.
Story and photos by John Showalter
The ILWU Longshore Division’s Coast Public Relations committee hosted the first Coast communications seminar during the week of Jan. 23-27 in San Francisco. Sixty-one longshore workers from ports coastwise received training in primary communications skills. This first training was a result of the 2003 Caucus decision to build an extensive public relations program within the union. This training and follow-up sessions are meant to educate members about how to communicate with their fellow members, their communities and the media.
"This communications seminar was intended to prepare the membership for the media attention we expect during the 2008 contract negotiations by consolidating a PR network within the union," said Public Relations Committee Chair Dave Arian. "Since completing this training, these members are now able to get out into their communities, develop written or web-based materials and videos for their locals and form relationships with local media. It was the first step in seeing what talent we have and to explain to members how our communications structure works."
Local 19's Danajo Montez speaks out.
The participants were divided into groups of ten that went together through the series of three workshops—effective public speaking, writing for internal and external communications and using self-produced videos to tell stories. The seminar was designed to be a hands-on, skills-building training. At the end of the week each group made a presentation demonstrating the skills they learned, creating a response to a hypothetical public relations attack on the union by the employer.
Planning the seminar evolved at the same time a similar effort by the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA), an organization of labor editors, webmasters, public relations workers, etc., to train union members, officers and staff in communications skills for pending contracts, political campaigns and organizing efforts. ILWU Communications Director Steve Stallone, who was recently elected president of ILCA, invited a number of these professionals to teach ILWU members in these various skills.
Leo Canty, chair of the ILCA Education Committee, led workshops on public speaking. He focused on framing messages, building a vocabulary of terms to fit these frames and devising metaphors to express them. Canty then had members use their framed messages in written statements for hypothetical media campaigns and into visual concepts for videos.
"You need to know how the system works, so you can work the system," Canty said. "I dwell a lot in my instruction on the power of words and the images they create in our minds. It is not hard to figure out how a specific message affects people once you break it down and present it in frames."
Lesley Clark (Local 13), Sean O’Donnell (Local 52) and Gretchen Tostrup (Local 63) take the red cat for top overall honors for their group’ presentation.
The writing workshops focused on how to clearly tell workers’ stories for local newsletters and how to craft press releases, letters to the editors and opinion pieces to get media and public attention for the union’s perspective.
"We have to get better at articulating our positions both among our own members and to other unionists, our communities and the general public, and we need more and more authentic ILWU voices doing that," Stallone said. "Approaching the written word was a little daunting for some members, but with a little practice and encouragement, they got the hang of it and had fun with it."
"Writing is the most crucial skill I think we learned at the training," Local 4’s Troy Olson said. "Good writing is the basis for all other public relations, whether it is a press release, a TV script or a letter to the editor."
Many member-trainees felt that the video training provided by Howard Kling of the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Services and Amie Williams, an independent filmmaker who is shooting a documentary for the ILWU about the 2002 lockout, was the most empowering skill they learned.
"We assume video production is out of the average union member’s reach, but it is not," said Local 23’s Zeek Green. "We can take control of this same technology too."
Local 23’s Zeek Green addresses the members.
Williams explained that people are often intimidated by video technology. To help overcome this fear, she focused on what she called a "guerilla crash course" in basic digital video production, including video, audio, lighting and non-linear editing. Trainees also learned important interview skills like avoiding asking questions with simple "yes" or "no" answers and being a good listener.
Williams encouraged trainees to use video for three key functions at their locals: 1) documenting day-to-day functions such as job actions, celebrations and historical events; 2) creating stock footage ("b-roll") and original, newsworthy video for local TV stations as part of developing relationships with producers; and 3) self-producing short films on topics like retirement benefits and safety, primarily for internal use.
"The ILWU has a very unique story to tell the public and it just needs to come from the heart, get captured on video and get out there," Williams said.
While compiling footage of the 2002 lockout, Williams found there were no videos of it made by any ILWU members. The seminar will hopefully change that.
Williams noted that she has never worked with such an enthusiastic group of participants. Trainees were so engaged, in fact, that they worked late into the night, to midnight and beyond, to produce short videos on topics ranging from a mock job action to a short history of ILWU founder Harry Bridges to intimate personal stories about who they are as longshore workers as part of their projects.
"For the first time out, the seminar was good," Local 13’s Alex Banday said. "We went straight into classes. The hands-on training is better for motivation. I’m now inspired to break out my camera."
