This past weekend, one of the major unions that staffs the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) walked off the job late at night with almost no notice, shutting down the city’s transit system and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
The strike was ended by government legislation in just 2 days. The damage to the union's image will last much, much longer.
The sudden strike was a PR blunder of epic proportions by a union that had so carefully managed its image in the weeks leading up to the strike, and serves as a lesson for businesses in all industries – goodwill built through positive PR is fragile, especially in its early days.
A little background – the union in question is made up of members who drive and maintain the TTC’s buses and subways. In the weeks leading up the contract negotiations with the city of Toronto, the union had taken great pains to buff up its public image by selecting two very clever key messages:
First, it focused its positive PR efforts on the people of the union, highlighting the stories of the drivers who get up at 4 am to help get people to work, and the maintenance staff who work overnight to keep riders safe. This was a safe choice – instead of a pro-union stance that might alienate some people, they focused on telling the stories of real people to humanize their side of the contract negotiation. It’s easy to dislike a union, if that’s your view. It’s harder to dislike a person you haven’t met.
Simultaneously, they floated stories about the abuse that some of these union employees face from irate passengers, which drew attention to a central issue in the contract debate – benefits for workers injured on the job. Again, this was good messaging – it’s tough to disagree with the notion of fairness.
They even launched their own website – worthamillion.ca – where they were progressive enough to allow comments from visitors (negative and positive). They even had union members reply to some of the more negatve comments to clarify the union’s position on certain matters.
And they made a much publicized promise to the citizens of Toronto – the union would give 48 hours notice of any job action so that the public (the very people the union needs on their side) would be well prepared to make alternate arrangements.
The Union's communications were on message, relatively clear, and helped to further their position in advance of the contract talks, which (as all talks of this nature do) were coming down to the wire.
And then, in an inexplicable public relations blunder, they threw all of that goodwill (and money) away in the space of 37 minutes on a warm April evening.
After their own members voted against the most recent contract tabled by the city despite an endorsement of the deal from union leadership, the union was notified at 11:23pm on Friday that a strike would begin at midnight. By 11:30pm, some passengers were notified over the loudspeaker system in the subway stations. But for the thousands of Friday night partiers enjoying themselves and counting on the union employees to get them home, and the shift workers who rely on the system to get to their jobs, there would be no 48 hours notice as promised - only 37 minutes.
And then the worst of it – Union leadership turtled. The head of the union was nowhere to be seen on TV or Radio in the midst of this chaotic scene. The union was silent.
The website that so effectively told the stories of union employees was taken down – presumably by the union itself.
On Saturday morning, no picket lines could be found anywhere across the city.
Outside of a terse statement that talked about ensuring the safety of employees, the Union said nothing.
The result – an entire weekend of news coverage dedicated to showing how the citizens of Toronto were angry and offended at the union for breaking their much publicized promise. The Union’s side of the story was never told, because they had stopped talking.
All of that careful messaging and goodwill, tossed aside in a span of 37 minutes. The long term damage to the union’s reputation remains to be seen.
The moral - your brand can survive the odd bump in the road when it has established roots in the market and a long favourable history on its side. But emerging brands buoyed by recent PR wins and good messaging are fragile, and must be handled with care. One slip and alot of work can go out the window.
