Unions' Quality-of-Life Focus & Positive Public Image

Hello, let me first introduce myself before getting to the meat of the post. Many of you may remember me from my work for the Alliance for a Better California, where I mostly tracked Arnold Schwarznegger. Here at Working Californians, I will have a much broader focus.

You can read more about the WC mission here but, in short, WC is a strategic research and advocacy non-profit focused on quality-of-life issues for working people in LA and California. The co-chairs are Brian D'Arcy and Marvin Kropke, who deserve a lot of credit for thinking about the long-term and investing in strategic research and advocacy. Also, Working Californians was the main independent expenditure campaign that helped elect John Chiang as State Controller last year.)

Let's kick start the discussion with today's LAT piece on strategic research memo written by Working Californians' strategists, using quantitative and qualitative research (ie, polling and focus groups) that Working Californians did in LA last fall. LA Times reporter wrote about it in today's paper.

Los Angeles unions enjoy a decided "brand advantage" over corporations among city voters, and the labor movement should use that popularity to advance "union-led solutions" to key public policy issues in 2007, a memo written by top labor strategists says.

The two-page memo, which was obtained by The Times, argues for broader, more straightforward engagement on policy issues than many unions have undertaken in the past. Some labor leaders prefer to focus on their own contract issues, and even those who are active in politics often soft-pedal the "union" label.

The document demonstrates labor's confidence as it heads into a new year of big battles over politics, contracts and organizing.

The bottom line is that unions are a trusted communicator for LA voters and we can use that to advocate effectively on behalf of the working men and women in California.

"There is a significant opportunity for organized labor in Los Angeles," the memo says. "In particular, we'd highlight these factors: unions' fundamentally positive image and 'brand advantage' over business corporations; the overlap between union priorities and the key concerns of voters across the electorate in L.A., and the opportunity to expand public understanding of the connection between local government and the full range of quality-of-life issues."

Public support for unions in LA is growing, and that presents a great opportunity for the effectiveness of labor sponsored advocacy campaigns.

Binder's poll found that unions have more public support in Los Angeles than in other areas of the state and country. Among city voters surveyed, 55% agreed that "without unions, there would be no middle-class left in America."

Reflecting the labor movement's influence in city politics, the memo argues for talking up local government's ability to deal with issues such as the economy, healthcare and the environment, which generally are considered federal and state matters.

The memo calls "for a public education campaign focused on union-led solutions to the quality-of-life issues that Los Angeles voters regard as most important." The memo suggests that such a campaign be conducted before 2008, when state and national election campaigns will probably consume union energy.

"Los Angeles, against its own history, is a labor town now," said Cherry, one of the strategists, who was a key figure in the successful effort to defeat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's slate of ballot initiatives in 2005. "One of the things that comes through in the poll is that people really see the potential of unions to take up the cause of ordinary people on quality-of-life issues."

That is at the heart of what we do here at Working Californians. Labor campaigns do not just lift up union members, but all those working men and women that are at the heart of what makes California great. Without a vibrant union movement and solutions to high housing costs, health care, transportation, the environment and other quality of life issues, people will continue to leave this state in droves. We cannot afford to squeeze out our middle class.