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Contract Campaign Planning

Campaign Background

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE.  Demographics of workforce.  Types of jobs.  Pay and benefits.  What work sites?  When does bargaining start and contract expire?

CONTRACT GOALS.  What are the important contract goals?

• ·       What is a settlement likely to look like?  Where is the union likely to compromise?
• ·       Do our goals include using bargaining to help unite more workers in the union?  Are there active organizing campaigns involving the same workplace or employer?
• ·       Are there union standards we are trying to achieve?
• ·       How can we frame our goals in a way that shows we are serious but leaves flexibility?

STRATEGY TO WIN. What incentives or pressure points do we think will get management to reach a reasonable settlement? What's our plan for escalating pressure?  Strike?  Politics?  Support from other members or other unions?  Corporate accountability or community campaign?  What's the political climate? What should we learn from campaigns conducted elsewhere in similar situations?

RESEARCH NEEDS.  What research will back up campaign themes?  What facts will illustrate our goals, help carry out our strategy to win, and hold up to management attack and media scrutiny?

BARGAINING HISTORY. What have management, union leaders, staff, and members learned from past negotiations -- or, if a first contract, from the organizing campaign?  How will that influence what they do? What other unionized units does this employer deal with? What's their history?

MANAGEMENT’S CAMPAIGN.  What are management’s bargaining and communications goals?  What is their strategy to win?  How will they deliver their messages?  How can we anticipate their campaign in designing ours?  Will they ask to limit media work by both sides?  To whose benefit?

MEMBER EXPECTATIONS.  What are members' initial priorities? Are they ready for a fight?  Do they have information about the employer's finances and the bargaining environment?  Are they united with a good internal structure?  Are there potential divisions that management could exploit?

COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.  How will we get information to members, the media, community allies, and other audiences?  Delivery systems must be agile and fast. Not wait until last minute.

OPINION RESEARCH. Is there a need for and money for polling/focus groups?  Why?  Would it be real research, or to demonstrate something we already know and, if so, to whom?

Member Communication

THEMES/SLOGANS. What themes and slogans best capture our goals and will connect with members, the community, unorganized workers, and other audiences?

MESSAGES FOR MEMBERS.  How will members see that…

• The proposals come from them. Survey members.  Keep referring to that survey throughout the campaign.  Proposal meetings?   
• What they win depends on them, not on the committee, the leaders, or the staff.
  • Survey is not just about what they want but what willing to do to help win.   
  • Keep asking for and showing member involvement.   
  • Highlight the Contract Action Team. 
  • “We” is the members, not the negotiators. 

• They are united.  Stickers, petitions, unity breaks, rallies.  Make clear that previously uninvolved people are welcome and involved (especially important in first contract campaigns).
• They have support beyond themselves. From the rest of the union, other unions, community allies, public officials, etc.
• Their negotiating committee is representative of them and is keeping them informed.  Work-site leaflets/report-backs on issues/themes? Recorded messages? Web site? Email?
• Using their bargaining strength to help more workers join the union will benefit them, not just those workers or the union as an institution.
• How they talk about the campaign and the settlement influences how nonunion workers think about whether to unite with us.

COPE AND VOTER REGISTRATION. Would this be a good time to ask members to register to vote and to give to our political action fund? Is it a good time for them to see the connection between political strength and bargaining power?

CONTRACT RATIFICATION. How will we make sure members have accurate, credible information so they know what was achieved without overselling?

Community Support

PUBLIC INTEREST FRAMING.  What will be the best issue(s) to build community support?

How do those issues connect or not connect to members' priorities and to sticking points at the bargaining table, and how will we juggle any differences?

MEDIA.  How will the news media be inclined to frame the story?

• How will leaders, staff, negotiating committee, and members be prepared to consistently deliver the right message to the media/community?  (Comes in part from training, but also from message consistency and repetition in all campaign materials and events)
• What actions, media events, or background stories should we try for to frame the campaign from the beginning?
• How will we generate new angles and images that keep the focus on our issues?
• Who will be the right spokespeople at each stage?
• How will leaders be accessible to discuss our media strategy when they are consumed by the final stages of bargaining?
• How will we announce a settlement in a way that shapes the coverage?
• Is there a need for and money for paid advertising?  To accomplish what goals?

Other Audiences

NONUNION WORKERS. Who are the nonunion workers who we hope to unite with us and who may take an interest in the campaign and its outcome? How will we communicate with them?  Through the same vehicles as members, or separately?  How will they view our goals, tactics, and the settlement? How should we frame what we say throughout the campaign so we attract their support, or at least don’t unnecessarily alienate them?

MANAGEMENT. What messages will they get from what we say to workers and the community?

Calendar and Pacing

KEY EVENTS AND MILESTONES. What are logical times to form the bargaining committee and Contract Action Team, conduct a survey, firm up proposals, hold campaign actions, conduct bargaining, and bring the bargaining to a conclusion? How will we sustain member and community support and gradually build toward a crisis at the right time?

Courtesy of TheWorkSite.org