The Target anti-union propaganda video story is just getting worse for Target, better for the New York Target store union campaign and pretty freaking hilarious, too.
Yup, Slate is reporting today that the actors Target employed to make its 2003 anti-union video were, well, unionized actors. "Doug," a Target team member, explains:
"If someone hires me to play a rapist, does it make me a rapist? You take the job, and you're an actor," says Reitz, a longtime member of AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild. "Am I pro-union? Absolutely."
Reitz, 55, has had a long career in movies, television and commercials; he plays the U.S. president in the new film "The Green Lantern."
Reitz says when he got the script for the 2003 Target video, the anti-union content struck him as "very awkward." So he asked AFTRA if there was any issue. The union told him that as long as the information in the video was not "purposefully inaccurate" and Reitz was not personally taking a position, taking the job was fine, he says.
More important than this video, though, is the union vote scheduled for Friday at Target's Valley Stream, NY store.
Target is, of course, shitting their pants at the prospect of this Target store becoming the first unionized Target in the country and doing everything they can -- including creating a misinformation Web site just to scare employees -- to stop the unionization of the store. The site starts with this:
On June 17th, you will be asked to vote whether or not you want the United Food and Commercial Workers union to speak on your behalf. Making an informed decision is very important. This decision will affect the rest of your career at Target and your family. Go ahead-take a few minutes to consider the bullet points below.
After that it has several pages of information that basically parrot the hilarious anti-union video in which "Doug" acted. You can even read Target's internal anti-union propaganda (errr...communications) to team members.
To borrow the words of Joe Biden, Friday's vote is a BFD. Unionizing a big box store will send a strong message to greedy CEOs that the middle class is fighting back, and can and will demand respect.
To learn more, check out Hamilton Nolan's work over at Gawker. This is where the infamous video was first posted and Hamilton Nolan recounts numerous Target employee horror stories on the site.
Again, let's support the unionizing campaign at the Valley Stream, NY store -- unionizing that store will send a clear and powerful message to big box retailers: shape up or else!
For wonks, a more detailed article from the NY Times is here.
Target can be contacted here, but you'll first have to ask the people who run their call center in the Philippines to transfer you back to the headquarters in Minnesota.
And, of course, the video for those who are new to this battle:
My four favorite parts for those short on time:
1.) At 3:05: "Workers know that all the good things unions once did...child safety laws, workman's comp...they're all laws now...and nobody wants to pay dues for something they already have. So the numbers [for union membership] just keep going down."
Wow, so you don't want a union because unions are great and did swell stuff?!
2.) At 6:59: "Hi, I'm Jim Rowader, team members have the right to join unions, but they also have a right not to join a union...Target members agree union representation is not in their best interest.
Are employees supposed to be intimidated by a guy who looks like he's straight out of an appointment with the drill sargeant's barber shop -- but wearing a pretty red turtleneck -- telling them that joining a union is a bad idea?
3.) At 9:40: "...just sign the card -- everybody else is doing it!"
Target tries to pretend it's teaching you the bandwagon approach, just like middle school health class.
4.) At 11:15: "Even if there was a union here, the company can and would legally demand that Target and only Target would make the final decision on wages and benefits regardless of what the union promises. In other words, management doesn't have to agree to any union demand."
This is the, "We're at the end of the video and just want to intimidate you now part of the video," I suppose.