It seems like every few months, social media users find a new and creative way to deploy their platforms beyond what the creators intended. When Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook to serve as a social hub for college students, he didn’t envision that it would morph into what we see today.
Indeed, it has been recently suggested that social media could become a replacement for the conventional labour union. At this point, if you’re the typical small business owner who shudders at the thought of the U-word, you may wish to stop reading. And if you’re an employee with concerns about your workplace, you may want to take some notes.
Has the traditional labour movement run its course? I would suggest that while the original motivations to create unions—unsafe and unfair labour practices—have mostly disappeared from union shops and spaces, those sorts of problems still remain in many industries, such as hospitality and retail.
Consider the situation at Stella’s, a Winnipeg restaurant institution. While it may not be popular to acknowledge, their recent labour crisis isn’t unique to them. It’s indicative of widespread issues that have long existed in the service industry.
Yes, there may be issues related to the individuals people in that company, but throughout the service industry, which is highly dependent on entry-level and part-time labour, there is a daunting challenge for employers who seek to merge customer demands with their employees’ needs and rights. Customer flow is unpredictable, sales volume changes, profit margins are tight, and the demands of the public are ever-increasing. That’s not a justification for ignoring the rights of employees, but rather a call to understand the heightened risk of running these sorts of businesses.
Employees in the service industry are often young, uneducated in their rights, and quite honestly voiceless. The competition for good positions and shifts is fierce. This has produced a systemic issue, with businesses depending on a flexible approach to labour laws.
The social media campaign launched by the employees of Stella’s provided a collective voice to the entire staff and produced quick change in the organization. But unlike traditional union environments, which result in negotiation between a company and its workers, the success of this campaign wasn’t based on the worker’s voices. Because the workers in these types of jobs are, to be blunt, expendable and easy to replace, they can’t exert much pressure at a bargaining table. A company might weigh the cost of employee turnover and provide some concessions, and the employees’ position is quite weak.
And yet the nature of the service industry gives employees a distinct advantage when it comes to social media. The campaign wasn’t successful merely on account of the collective voice of the workers; rather, it was successful because we as citizens have allowed social media to become a court of public opinion.
So perhaps social media isn’t a replacement for labour unions, but it is a tribunal for the airing of disputes in non-unionized industries that are heavily dependent on the public’s patronage.
The court of public opinion can have an immediate impact on businesses such as Stella’s. This is both incredibly encouraging and downright terrifying at the same time. To provide a voice to the voiceless is noble, and this cannot be understated. However, public opinion is fickle and prone to decisions of the heart. We support causes based on presentation and feeling, not necessarily logic and merit. We may produce disparity because of this, placing excessive support on certain campaigns and failing to support others.
While labour unions negotiate with a degree of pragmatism, the public isn’t bound by this mandate and can produce unintended collateral damage. In the Stella’s example, if people show their support by refusing to patronize the business, the company’s financial loss will be shared by the existing staff.
The power to leverage the court of public opinion must be wielded carefully. We the public—as judge, jury, and executioner—must be wise in our discernment. With this understanding, we can help balance the scales of justice.
