The Importance of Public Relations and Unions for Working Class Solidarity

From a man being crushed to death in a forklift at an Amazon factory to Walmart withholding billions of dollars to pay their employees living wages, we are all caught up in these big corporations’ PR crises and their next move. Why do we care so much about the reputation of trillionaire Jeff Bezos when our attention should be focused on labor unions, whose advocacy towards a better future for workers goes unnoticed?

 Labor unions are created by workers for workers to achieve better wages, benefits, and working conditions. To understand the importance of public relations in labor unions, let’s look at an example of  how corporations have utilized public relations to spread anti-union propaganda so they can look better.

 In early 2021, Twitch, who is owned by Amazon, was running anti-union propaganda ads for Amazon. In these ads, Amazon workers talked about how everything is fine as is and that unions are attacking the company and ruining the already-great environment. After public outrage, Twitch removed the ads with a statement claiming that they do not allow political advertising. This campaign was in response to a unionization effort by Amazon employees in Alabama. It also hides the reality of horrid working conditions Amazon workers go through including being forced to pee in their bottles and defecating in bags because they cannot get bathroom breaks.

 According to the Economic Policy Institute, since 1978, corporate positions such as the Chief Executive Officer have increased 940% in wages while a regular worker’s wages only increased by 12%.

 This brings the question, how can public relations work in the favor of the working class? To amplify the unions’ campaigns, media coverage needs to side with unions. Too often, the media focuses on negatively portraying striking activity and stray away from the unions’ agenda. By having the media highlight the work unions are doing, including the stories of these employees, it can motivate the employer’s target audience and stakeholders to pressure these big corporations into being accountable and meeting the union’s demands. Another way to positively influence public opinion is for unions to run social media campaigns that expose their employer and educate the employer’s audience on the conditions employees have had to work under. As much as corporate leaders love to flaunt their high financial status, the public holds higher power when it comes to influencing the direction of a corporation.

 Currently, Starbucks baristas have a successful labor union movement. Through social media including viral TikTok videos and Tweets and going on Zoom calls about the significant impact of unions, 16 Starbucks stores voted to unionize. It also garnered attention from politicians including Illhan Omar, who showed up for two of the union’s protests in Minnesota.

 As we continue to shop or engage with our favorite companies, it is also important to think about the real labor that goes on behind the scenes. In the words of Karl Marx, “for working people to be free, they must seize control of the means of production.”

Bio: Reema Haque is a junior at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) majoring in communication studies and minoring in journalism. She currently works at CSUN’s University Student Union as the public relations assistant. Her goal is to take her passions of public relations into nonprofits and government.