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In the wake of the recent Los Angeles Times series spotlighting questions about the union, the United Farm Workers has posted an ad on Monster.com looking for a new director of communications. The reader who emailed me the link mused: "wonder why." Excerpts of the duties:
The Communications Director is responsible for developing and executing the communications strategy for the United Farm Workers (UFW). The Director is also responsible for the administration of the Communications Fund by managing staff, budgets, and media lists. The Director drives awareness and positive press coverage of our work and accomplishments to create and maintain a favorable public image of the United Farm Workers by performing the following duties:[skip]
Creating "sound bites" for UFW principals that have a good chance of ending up in coverage while preparing statements and news releases...
Planning and orchestrating "set" news events to roll out major union campaigns and initiatives...
Oversee activities related to working with press representatives on a local, state, national, and international level, with special emphasis on ethnic press...
Develop and implement communications plans that promote the UFW’s agenda, activities, and campaigns...
Today's LAT comes back with a UFW follow by Miriam Pawel analyzing "several realities about UFW contracts decades after the union's peak: Growers have won concessions that enable them to hire nonunion employees through subcontractors. Contracts often allow employers to bypass strict seniority rules for hiring and promoting workers. And the UFW has accepted a variety of arrangements that allow employers to pay workers differently for similar labor."