International announces scholarship winners

The Power of Social Media

by Abigail Nicole Burke

On March 10, 2011, I stood with thousands of union members in front of the Indiana Statehouse to protest the newly proposed Right to Work Legislation. The legislation contained measures meant to drive unions from the workplace by eliminating union dues. At the rally, union leaders estimated that nearly 25,000 people had come to protest the bill. However, the next day I was shocked to see that the news reported only 8,000 protesters had been at the statehouse. Although I was upset at seeing such a misrepresentation in the news, at the time I had no way to let people know what had actually happened.

Today, with only a small status update, I could voice my concerns on Facebook and have them reach over a hundred people. Groups ranging from activists in the Arab Spring to supporters of ALS victims have already harnessed the power of social media for good causes. In particular, activists utilize social media for three main reasons: it is cheap, it is far-reaching, and it is very fast. These three aspects of social media would be largely beneficial to union members as well. With little to no cost of social media, unions could send large-scale messages to their members in a very short period of time. In terms of protesting, unions could use even use social media to raise awareness for their cause. For example, one of my friends jokingly referred to the Right to Work legislation as "Right to Work for Less". His comment was a small joke, but tweeting a short phrase like that can quickly make people aware of pertinent issues and raise support for a cause.

For the past ten years, I have watched my dad lead monthly union meetings, union picnics and functions, and protests against the anti-union movement. Watching all this, I have realized that the essential power of unions comes with organization. Unions can only work if their members act as one cohesive unit, and social media is one way for unions to increase their level of organization. With the prevalence of smartphones in society, many union members would be able to receive notifications on their phone of upcoming union events and meetings. For new members, this would be especially important, as they are trying to integrate into their union. Having a social network of union employees could also help new members connect and form relationships with the other people in their local. In school, I have often contacted people over Facebook when I do not know them well enough to have their phone number. Being able to easily contact someone to ask their help or simply how they are doing is a simple way to form a deeper relationship. For retired members trying to connect with old co-workers, a union Facebook group would allow them to contact the people they used to work with. Overall, Twitter and Facebook would allow unions to quickly remind their members of important dates, spread awareness for union causes, and help new and old members keep in contact with their union brothers and sisters.

2015 Scholarship Essay

by Hayden Douglas Flinner

Unions could use social media in a number of helpful ways to organize new members and service their current members. Twitter and Facebook are especially powerful social platforms because of how widely used they are. Especially important, in my opinion, is garnering the support of the millennials who fill most of these social platforms' population. They are the future source of public opinion, and it is very important to the future success of union actions to get this demographic on board.

Twitter, in its current form, is a very genuine place. It is the place where teenagers go to voice the controversial opinions that they do not want their parents to see on Facebook. It is the place where professional sports athletes get into petty insult wars with random hecklers. Having a strong and supported presence on Twitter would be of great benefit to a union's public image. The average Twitter user is a young adult living in an urban area. The average Twitter user is someone who was not around for the workplace abuses that spawned unions, and someone who likely does not work in a profession that has a powerful union. Regardless, this "average" person's opinion on a union should be considered very important. This is the same young demographic that voted our current President into office, twice.

The way that a union wins over this demographic is very simple. It starts with having a bit of a following, many of whom are probably the children of union workers. Once a few popular members of this demographic are following a union's account, the union must capitalize on this opportunity by posting things that appeal to this crowd. For example, directly attacking senators who push for a higher minimum wage is not likely to be a popular move among Twitter users. While it may be a popular opinion amongst a union's members, those people are likely not on Twitter. Instead, a great opportunity would have been to send out a tweet during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011. Tweeting a remark about how unions protect the common worker and prevent income inequality with the hashtag #OccupyWallStreet would have likely exploded the union's presence on Twitter. A single two-or-three-sentence remark could have been seen by millions of politically minded young Americans. This group is the future source of public opinion in our country, and they would be a lot more sympathetic to union causes in the future if they had seen that the union is in line with their political interests. It would have been a sure way to not only gain new members but also help support current members by reminding young Americans why we have unions to begin with. In the modem world of social networks, opportunities like this to advance a union's brand cannot be overlooked.

Facebook is also a great tool for acquiring new members, but it is not as effective as Twitter because people are less likely to share politically charged or divisive posts. Facebook, however, is a wonderful tool for servicing current members. It can help in small but useful ways. For example, a Facebook event could be created for an upcoming union charity golf tournament. Since almost everyone logs into Facebook regularly or at least has a member of their family whom does so, a little notification on their account reminding them about an upcoming union function could be the difference between them showing up and them forgetting about it.

Another, more powerful, approach would be targeted advertising on services like Facebook and Twitter. Both of these networks allow you to post advertisements to accounts that meet certain criteria, such as someone who seems to be working in a union's industry or someone who lives in a specific location. These advertisements could feature the many benefits of joining a union, such as higher pay, much higher job security, etc. Advertisements like these do not cost much because they are narrowed down to so few people, but they are highly effective due to how targeted they are. They could also be used during union protests to show Tweets to people driving near protests, explaining what is going on and rallying them to support the union cause as well. Targeted advertising is an unbelievably powerful tool that social media provides.

I hope that I have summarized effectively a few of the ways unions could use social networks to service their current members and organize new members. If used correctly, unions could grow into something millennials promote and support without ever really having a personal reason to. They would understand that unions are helpful organizations that keep corporations from becoming too powerful, and support them as such. I think that using social networks in this way is imperative to the future effectiveness of unions.

2015 International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers Scholarship Essay

by Joshua Henry

Social media lends itself to the practice of mass, widespread communication among groups of people. More than a billion people worldwide use social media. Specifically, social media is a website or application which enables others to create and share content or participate in the many forms of social networking. While many find the idea of social media to be detrimental to society and humanity, it has promising effects in the world of business and, more prominently, the business of unions.

Importantly, users of social media consider it a good venture for organizations to remain present in social media and networking. Unions can create page(s) on a popular site with relative ease. There exist a great number of sites where one can implement this ranging from YouTube to Tumblr to Facebook and many more.

The site could be run by a single member or a small group of members. Anything could be posted-photos, announcements, and questions for example. Posts, though, should be treated formally, as though they are published material such as the content in a union bulletin. With the pages public and viewable by anyone, it's important that what is said is both legal and appropriate; posts could potentially contain information regarding negotiations or union goals. Social media would provide a simple and easy way for current members to catch up on news. However, it would work even better for organizing new members since social media is primarily seen being used by the younger generations.

One great aspect of social media is that it can also be used in starting a union. A group can be made on a social networking site, which can be used to find members. With this method, if done correctly and appropriately, can make it anonymous as to who started the union. Therefore, the company cannot remove the trouble employee (and prevent the union from forming).

Clearly, social media can be a useful tool for unions. It can be used as both an introducer and an informer. There is the capacity for it to be used in a manner as to allow a union to form. Likewise, it can be taken advantage of by using it to spread information to and organizing members, old and new.