This morning, an e-mail went out from SEIU International, the parent organization for SEIU Local 503, to members across the country, including Oregon. The e-mail was adressed from Andy Stern, President of SEIU. It pointed the recipients to a video posted on YouTube.
The video is a fake horror "movie." It paints opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act as the monsters of the film. But the true monster of this incident may be Andy Stern himself.
Whether you support the Employee Free Choice Act or not is not the issue. What is an issue is the lack of facts and failure to disclose.
The video contains many images, quotes, and clips of the opponents. However, neither the video, the YouTube information, or the site linked to provide any references to the sources of that information. Without these facts, the video is nothing more than an unsubstantiated propoganda vehicle. If the information provided in the video is true, providing proper references can only strengthen your argument, not hinder it.
Perhaps worse is the e-mail itself. First, it was sent through the state e-mail system. SEIU Local 503 Communications Director, Ed Hershey, has stated that the e-mail should not have been sent to the worksites. They are asking the International to remove those work addresses from mailing lists. However, this is the second time that such e-mails have been sent, and the previous request was obviously ignored.
The second problem with the e-mail is the falsification of the source of the e-mail. In total, three (3!) e-mail addresses were given. When contacted, all of them are unreachable. This is exactly what spammers do when they send out their offers for male enhancement products, easy degrees, etc. Perhaps the next e-mail will include links to install malware on your state computers as well.
Re: Andy Stern, Spammer
After an e-conversation with President Linda Burg last night, I received confirmation today that action has been taken. Leslie Frane, Executive Director, contacted Eva Corbin at DAS regarding the situation and Local 503's actions to resolve the issue. Eva Corbin is the Deputy Administrator for Labor Relations at DAS.
Re: Andy Stern, Spammer
It should be obvious to anyone who received the e-mail that it was not a personal note sent by Andy Stern. It was part of a marketing campaign. I would have called it a professional marketing campaign, but I don't see anything professional about how this was handled.
Instead, I can say that money was paid for the campaign. The company responsible is Blue State Digital. They make their living from providing online services and campaigns for politicians, unions, etc. They claim to be very successful.
This makes me wonder who was responsible for the propoganda they sent out. Did the International's Communications department put it together and Blue State Digital just delivered it? Or did Blue State Digital come up with this lackluster offering on their own? If they did, it would make me question just how successful they really are.
Re: Andy Stern, Spammer
Andy appears to be at it again. I heard that recently more emails went out. I didn't personally receive one this time. If you did receive one, please let us know what it was about, and if you received it at your place of work. If they want to send e-mail to your personal address, that's fine. It's the fact that they keep sending stuff to work addresses, in direct violation of our contracts, afer being told not to do so, that is pure Pope Stern I.