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Tweeting and Retweeting for Fight for $15: Unions as Dinosaur Opinion Leaders?

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  • Lorenzo Frangi
  • Tingting Zhang
  • Robert Hebdon

Abstract

Advocacy campaigns are central to unions’ efforts to impact labour rights beyond unionized workplaces. Social media and on‐the‐ground campaign dynamics are intimately related. Thus, if unions can become leaders on social media, they could have more impact on campaign framing and mobilizing. Drawing on primary data and applying a sequential mixed method, we analyse unions’ ability to emerge as opinion leaders in Twitter dialogues on the Fight for $15 (FF$15) campaign. We track FF$15‐related activities of Twitter profiles over seven months and compare union actions to those of others along three dimensions: level of activity, prevalence of tweeting versus retweeting and endorsement within FF$15 community and in the Twitter universe. Regression results show unions prefer advancing their own ideas over supporting those of others, and their messages are more endorsed than others’ messages in the Twitter universe. In‐depth interviews and a focus group reveal that while their actions are slow and conservative, unions can count on internal support and institutional reputation to gain leadership. The article concludes by noting the implications of the findings for unions’ strategies to become opinion leaders on social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzo Frangi & Tingting Zhang & Robert Hebdon, 2020. "Tweeting and Retweeting for Fight for $15: Unions as Dinosaur Opinion Leaders?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 301-335, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:58:y:2020:i:2:p:301-335
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12482
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lorenzo Frangi & Tingting Zhang, 2022. "Global union federations on affiliates’ websites: Forces shaping unions’ global organisational identity," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 444-466, June.
    2. Andrew Keyes & Zachary A Russell & Jack Fiorito, 2023. "The union experience: Workplace instrumentality, prosocial unionism, and union satisfaction," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(4), pages 1239-1265, November.
    3. Nana Wesley Hansen & Mark Friis Hau, 2024. "Between Settlement and Mobilization: Political Logics of Intra-Organizational Union Communication on Social Media," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 299-317, April.

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