Astroturf campaign targeted Walmart Black Friday protests

Last week, an organization calling itself "Worker Center Watch" launched a campaign to discredit the Walmart workers who staged protests across the United States to target Black Friday sales. Among the thousands of Walmart employees, the protests included labor union organizers and members there to push for living wages and more full-time positions.



According the The Nation, Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart, Parquet Public Affairs. They call themselves "an Issue Management, Communications, Government Relations and Reputation Assurance firm."

So yeah, astroturfing. The idea of "professional protestors," who are simply mercenary layabouts, is a populist tactic used to discredit all kinds of demonstrations.

The Walmart protests were, in fact, organized by "outside agitators." The union-backed Organization for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) calls itself "an independent, not-for-profit organization for hourly Associates." In other words, it's pushing for unionization.

Between Walmart and "union bosses," I side with the labour organizers. Their demands are simply a $15/hour wage and full-time hours. A corporation that pays its hourly employees so poorly that they need to do an internal food drive just to make sure everyone can feed their families will never be a hero in my mind.

(Thanks to John Hardy for the tip)

"Walmart" astroturf campaign against labour rights

The abysmal writing and low production quality of this ad are insulting enough to viewers. But watch it, and prepare to be appalled.



According to The Nation:

TheNation.com has discovered that Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart. Parquet Public Affairs, a Florida-based government relations and crisis management firm for retailers and fast food companies, registered the Worker Center Watch website. 

The firm is led by Joseph Kefauver, formerly the president of public affairs for Walmart and government relations director for Darden Restaurants.

This is what we call "astroturfing" — fake grassroots movements as corporate reactions to real activism.

Of course, you could also say that the exposé has a point of view; The Upworthy post I saw this on was sponsored by AFL-CIO. But the characterization of all those who stand up to Black Friday labour abuses as lazy, paid, union stooges is pretty dishonest no matter where you stand politically.

Teachers' union welcomes in the school year with quiz on labour rights

Clearly, no Art Directors were inconvenienced in the making of this ad. But the quiz-style long copy print ad is appearing as a full page in several Ontario dailies.

The Ontario elementary teachers (my wife is one of them) are locked in a battle of wills against the cash-strapped Ontario government. Premier Dalton McGuinty's minority government recently introduced Bill 115 to force a new contract — including wage freezes, clawbacks on bankable sick leave, and removing right to strike — on the teachers without going through the collective bargaining process. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it's unconstitutional, however.

I am conjugally biased on this issue, which has lead to a number of internet arguments with friends, family, and journalists. One rather disrespectful comment by the Education Minister made me so angry, I launched a petition demanding she resign or apologize for misrepresenting teachers as lazy and greedy. It has attracted almost 6,000 signatures.

I've never been a member of any union, but I find myself taking sides in this case. So,  Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, if you'd like me to help you develop a more effective PR and social media strategy to get your story across, call me.