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The ATU Messaging Campaign:  Linking Their Workplace Issues With Our Side's Broader Political Positioning And Message

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This radio spot -- by the Amalgamated Transit Union -- illustrates how the union was able to generalize its specific fight against the destructive, anti-worker privatization policies of the regional transit entity, Metro, into a broader fight for all American workers…which simultaneously moved Democratic elected officials and political players in the area to take a more visible and clear “pro-worker” stance.

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Put most directly, ATU’s messaging gently (but pointedly) stressed that standing up forcefully for fair treatment for D.C.-area workers would help in the vital task of restoring the Democratic Party’s seriously eroded position in recent years as “the party of American working people.”

 

Result: The active intervention by area Democratic politicians following the ATU radio campaign moved the transit agency to dramatically (and almost instantaneously) announce that it was abandoning its previously (long-held) plans for any further privatization of Metro work!

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