How a Union Put a Labor-Friendly Voice on the Air

[papau]

Mods - permission to publish at DU the entire article has been obtained from David Swanson

How a Union Put a Labor-Friendly Voice on the Air
By David Swanson

UFCW Local 951 in Grand Rapids, Mich., was looking for a way to get the facts about working conditions at Wal-Mart onto the airwaves in a town dominated -- as most are -- by conservative talk radio.

"We want to organize Wal-Mart," said Local 951 Executive Vice President John Cakmakci, "but before we can, we have to educate the public about what workers face." People were not learning about workers' rights from their radios.

"I'll listen to Rush Limbaugh to hear what the other side is up to," said Cakmakci. "And whatever he says on Tuesday, half of my neighbors will be saying on Wednesday."

Radio host Thom Hartmann was looking for a way to get another station to pick up his nationally syndicated program. His view of the world is far removed from that of Rush Limbaugh, but he believes there's a huge audience out there waiting to hear it, if stations would only give it a chance.

Many stations have, and the show is on satellite radio and on the internet at thomhartmann.com, but it wasn't on the air in Grand Rapids. Not until Hartmann linked up with Local 951.

"He fit the bill perfectly," said Cakmakci. The union approached a Clear Channel station, WTKG, and arranged to sponsor the show for a year, for a cost of $48,000. The union made some of that money back by selling some of the ad time that they had purchased to other labor organizations. The second year, the station was comfortable enough that they could sell ads, that they only asked the union for $36,000.

In fact, while Rush Limbaugh's show over on WOOD hadn't lost any listeners, Hartmann's show, airing at the same time, had moved from an Arbitron 0.8 share in Fall 2003 to a 2.1 share in fall 2004. These were new listeners who 'd been tuning out talk radio until a voice they recognized came along.

Hartmann said the two stations play up the conservative versus liberal battle between his show and Limbaugh's, but he noted that both stations are owned by Clear Channel, which is "laughing all the way to the bank."

"Thom's done a wonderful job of talking about workers' issues," said Cakmakci. "We've found him to be a very good voice for us. He plays well presenting the other side. People want the facts. Getting people to understand how Bush is hurting American workers is huge, how he's taken away time-and-a-half for overtime for some white collar workers, and on and on."

Hartmann, he said, is persuasive, because he "puts it in the context of just presenting what's going on." He reports the news, without the corporate spin. "He wakens up the other side. And organized labor has to do that. We' ve got to think of innovative ways of reaching not just union members, but the whole public."

As far as the expense, Cakmakci said: "I consider it money well spent." He's enjoyed working with Hartmann, who has come to Grand Rapids and done shows with the union's leaders about the right to organize and the so-called "right to work."

Unions, Cakmakci said, should "appreciate how important it is to educate the public. Before you attack the island, you bombard it. Thom represents that arm, which we've found to be very powerful. Organized labor can't afford not to start organizing communities. I know it's expensive, and I know that especially under Bush a lot of unions are struggling, but if you can scrape together the funds, I strongly recommend it."

Cakmakci encourages anyone with questions about this effort to contact him. See http://www.ufcwlocal951.com.

Thom Hartmann, who is an award-winning reporter as well as a labor-friendly radio host, can be reached through http://www.thomhartmann.com He would like to work with any union interested in buying radio advertising. Rather than simply buying it on a station that doesn't report workers' news, Hartmann would like to see us buy it on a station that agrees to air a progressive show. Hartmann will speak on a plenary at the ILCA Convention.



This article is from ILCA Online
http://www.ilcaonline.org/

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