Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 22, 1990 TAG: 9004190049
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: BUS5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Currey's visit was part of what a company spokesman termed a "Florida blitz" designed to gain Greyhound favorable statewide news coverage in the early days of the strike by its drivers' union.
"Every news person in northern Florida was there," said Greyhound spokesman George Gravley, whose company dispatched Currey to three Florida cities that day to meet publicly with riders and replacement drivers.
Greyhound's public relations gambit was just one battle in the war to court public favor in the 6-week-old drivers' strike, but analysts say it reflects a growing trend toward sophisticated publicity contests in labor-management disputes.
"A public relations agent is a participant now either at the bargaining table or right outside the room," said Don Blohowiak, a New York media analyst who studies business-media relations.
"The court of public opinion is very important to success in the marketplace. In something like a labor dispute, our impressions stay with us for a very long time," Blohowiak said.
He said most consumers "want to do business with companies we like or feel good about, companies we think conduct business with their employees in a reasonable and ethical way."
Greyhound is not alone in seeking public favor in the strike.
The Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, without an in-house public relations department, hired a Washington company six days before the strike to dramatize the economic issues, such as the decline in drivers' average pay from $31,000 to $21,000 since 1983.
Still, some labor leaders complain privately that the union hasn't been as aggressive as Greyhound in seeking to mold public opinion.
"The union hasn't awakened to the fact that it needs to sell its message to win," said one labor analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But the union's public relations agent, Nick Nichols, said striking drivers can't compete with the company's money.
"Clearly, it's a David and Goliath thing. The Greyhound drivers simply don't have the resources," Nichols said.
Neither side in the bus strike will say what it's spending for public relations advice. Since March 2, when 6,300 drivers and 3,000 maintenance and other workers walked out, the strike has been marred by vandalism and violence. The company has refused to return to the bargaining table until a week goes by without a violent incident.
Analysts point to the ongoing Eastern Airlines walkout and last year's Pittston coal strike as recent labor disputes where unions waged successful campaigns to win public support.
Although machinists at Eastern are still on strike, their publicity campaign against Frank Lorenzo, head of the carrier's parent company, "made him out to be the Darth Vader" of the corporate world in the public's mind, one labor official said.
Blohowiak said companies are more media-conscious now than they were 10 years ago because increased competition has prompted consumers to consider a company's attitude toward its workers when making purchasing decisions.
"After seeing the drubbing that Exxon took over one accident, or a Frank Lorenzo took, you can't hide and pretend you don't have problems, that no one's interested," he said.
Greyhound's efforts to win public opinion have been persistent.
Twice in two weeks, Dallas-based Greyhound executives flew to Washington for news conferences to complain about strike-related violence. Neither event had a Washington focus, and in fact, the latest one was to announce the filing of a lawsuit in Florida against union officials.
Gravley, the Greyhound spokesman, said the event was held in Washington because that's where the national press corps is based.
"If you want to be heard nationally, you have to go where the national media is," said media analyst Don Kellermann.
Greyhound used a well-known New York public relations firm, Ruder Finn, for advice and help in setting up the Washington news conferences. It also has taken out several full-page newspaper ads on the strike.
Labor officials contend the company's Washington announcements are part of a strategy to distort public perception of the strike.
"It's a great tack for diverting attention from what the real issues are," said Denise Mitchell, a Washington public relations agent who helped Pittston miners win widespread community support during last year's coal strike.
Sophisticated publicity efforts by management have forced unions to try to keep up, she said.
"We increasingly counsel people that they have to get out front in the contest to win public support," Mitchell said. "Being prepared at the bargaining table, doing your homework on the economic issues, just isn't enough anymore."
by CNB