Labor Law
Feb 16, 2012
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Feel Good, Inc.

So. How are you feeling?

Having a bad day at work? A bad year?

I’m not breaking news by saying that 2011 was tough for a lot of us. Many states spent the year with double digit unemployment. We saw constant economic protests, stagnant politics, even actual war and famine. But something else has been going on for the past few years, under the surface of the major stories. I’ve certainly felt it; I’m sure you have, too. It’s this general malaise about what it is we’re doing here.

In an economy that is globalized, homogenized and automated, the individual worker is more often than not left wondering: What exactly am I accomplishing?

I was having this conversation with a colleague of mine not too long ago, and our agreed conclusion was that the first advertiser, politician or religion that could address this disaffected disconnect could rule the world.

Finally, a group with hearts to win has figured out how to parlay this malaise into a mass message, and when I realized who it was, all I could think was, “Sometimes I should just keep my big mouth shut.”

The group that’s gunning to make you not just love your work, but feel the nobility and proud significance in it, and feel connected to the global workforce like never before? Who’s taken up that mantle?

That would be America’s unions.

Yep. I direct you workconnectsusall.org, the most stylish, well-written, most ambitious campaign I’ve ever seen to make you feel better about your job, and feel aligned with the rest of the 99%. Brought to you by the AFL-CIO.

The web campaign is being supported with TV ads and billboards in various markets. And the words that come to mind when you see it, they aren’t the words we typically associate with organized labor: compelling, modern, stylish, advanced.

Will it work? I don’t know – unions have an uphill climb right now, too – but this new face of America’s unions looks a lot more appealing, and it’s saying something that has been missing for a long time. It’s pretty bizarre for me to feel good about something the AFL-CIO has done, but this website has done it for me.

And, for that reason, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the ads have the potential to change the perception of a labor movement that many thought was on its last legs.

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-Gerry Harvey

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