ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the union was able to engage and hold the interest of the media in its Whitehall campaign and Section 936 reform effort. It demonstrates why this press coverage was so important to the outcome of these efforts. The chapter explains the union's public relations activities in the context of contemporary union activism. Labor specialists and management consultants would characterize Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers (OCAW's) battle to save Whitehall as a "corporate campaign." Greg LeRoy joined the Whitehall campaign in a limited way shortly after Richard Leonard and the OCAW-International Union (OCAW-IU) became involved in July of 1990. OCAW's legislative effort benefited enormously by its very effective public relations campaign. OCAW's sophisticated public relations effort empowered the overall campaign and took it beyond the environs of the Whitehall plant and local community. It was fundamental to achieving the settlement and the legislative reform.
