Lights, Camera, Action

By DAVID A. COOK
President

If you get text messages from this union, then lately you may have seen something that you’ll be seeing more of in the coming months: my smiling face. It’s all part of a new communication program we’re rolling out to get important updates to our partners. Like it or not, video content is the way more and more people get important information or entertain themselves.

This should be self-explanatory. First it was the rise of YouTube, and soon after Facebook rolled out its live services, Instagram grew into a behemoth and then TikTok emerged to change the landscape of social media permanently.

I know some of our partners are a little more old-school, and I certainly have a few more gray hairs than I used to, but the simple fact is that short videos are more likely to be watched than a posting in the breakroom in the modern age.

So, starting in January, I began a program to cut video messages to our partners to convey important information. My first video, about opportunities to join us on union leave for organizing or political work, was watched by almost 1,500 partners, a staggering number we simply could not duplicate with a letter in the mail or a flyer on a bulletin board.

My special message exclusively to CVS partners was watched by roughly half of all our CVS folks, and I expect future videos to continue to be successful.

There are a few reasons to take this new approach.

• First, and perhaps the most obvious, it’s a more efficient way to get our message out there. The value of hundreds or even thousands of partners getting information that they otherwise would have missed entirely should be obvious enough.

• The other reason is more abstract, but not less important. There’s value in our partners seeing the faces of their leaders. For some of our folks, it’s easy for the union to seem like this distant or inaccessible thing. It may feel like something far away and intangible.

However, seeing the face of the person the partners overwhelmingly re-elected to lead your union is a good reminder for all that the union is here and very real.

This communication method, coupled with an emphasis on increased store visits from our union representatives, is all in service of our focus on being engaged and connected with our partners. The more you see us, the more you hear from us, the better our union family gets. The feedback from our partners and the relationships we build with you helps us get information to do a better job and makes engaging in problems and solving them much easier.

You’ve probably seen your union representative more in the past few months than you have in the past, and that’s no accident. Last year at our annual Steward Seminar our theme was “engagement.” That word matters to us. In an age where digital communication is outpacing face-to-face discussions, where partners can forgo an in-person contract or membership meeting and tune in from the comfort of their own homes, it’s easy to see why we felt that there was a gap growing between the hard-working people in our workplaces and the people tasked with serving you. Of course, a global pandemic didn’t help matters either.

We aren’t going to let that trend continue. Yes, digital communication isn’t just the future, it’s the present, and the world is unlikely to go back on that trend any time soon. Our ability to reach people without standing in front of them has given us greater chances to spread our message, but it also creates the challenge of making sure we feel connected.

Unions aren’t the only ones facing this problem, you don’t have to spend much time on the internet to see news stories about younger generations being less connected because of the rise of the new era of digital communications.

We’re still seeking that balance. Connecting with as many of you as possible while making sure those connections are deep and help us be engaged. I’m sure we’ll continue to find new ways to strike that balance. In the meantime, you will just have to get used to seeing my smiling face every once in a while as I work to bring the information you need right into the palm of your hand.