Saturday, August 20, 2005

Unions Outlived Usefulness? Write a letter!

Last weekend I responded here to an anti-union letter to the editor in the Hampton Roads (VA) Daily Press. I also sent roughly the same response to the paper as a letter to the editor. Lo and behold, the paper not only published my letter, but two even better letters as well.

There's a lesson here: Small papers will print your letters.

I write about ten letters to the Washington Post every year and I'm lucky if I get one published every two years. Hampton Roads is a relatively small city deep in a red state. One anti-union letter to the editor spawned three pro-union letters. I write frequently about the poor reporting (with occasional exceptions) about unions and worplace safety in this country. We need to be not just talking with reporters, but also monitoring and responding to letters to the editor and writing op-ed columns.

Come on, us bloggers can't do all the work.