LAX Security Workers' Union Launches First of Its Kind Virtual Leaflet Campaign

Employer Wrongdoing Exposed Through Cyber-Leaflet, Connecting E-Commerce Customers to "un-fulfilled.com" Web Site

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to reach a broader audience, the Respect at LAX campaign is launching a web-based virtual leafleting campaign in support of passenger service workers trying to form a union at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, today will begin distribution of virtual leaflets to customers of AHL Services/Argenbright and other interested parties using strategically placed banner ads on Yahoo!.

Leafleting has long been an effective tactic of the labor movement to expose a company's labor practices to potential customers. In this case, AHL Services conducts business over the Internet and the union has found an innovative way to get critical information about their business practices to their customers. The virtual leafleting campaign involves running banner ads on Yahoo!, one of the most popular sites on the World Wide Web. AHL Services e-commerce customers will be 'handed' a virtual leaflet, connecting them to a new web site, http://www.un-fulfilled.com. The site provides a better understanding of the company's protracted labor dispute at LAX and other questionable business practices related to AHL's Gage Marketing subsidiary.

SEIU Local 1877 President Mike Garcia described the effort as, "Our attempt to bring a worker message to a new forum. The Internet offers us the opportunity to tell the world about Argenbright's mistreatment of their own employees, which is indicative of bad business practices that can negatively impact both their customers and shareholders. Many of AHL's customers interact with the company on-line, now we will be there to hand them a virtual leaflet and let them know the truth about this company's behavior. As employers move into the 'virtual' world, we will follow them."

AHL Services operates separate divisions that employ aviation service workers, and provide on-line consumer fulfillment. AHL employs approximately 1,000 security workers at LAX.

The virtual leaflets will be distributed in three separate areas of the Yahoo! Web site. First, leaflets will be 'handed' to users who type in certain keywords such as, "e-fulfillment, fulfillment services, or AHL Services" into the Yahoo! search engine. In addition, leaflets will be handed out on a random basis within the Yahoo! business news and finance properties. In these latter categories, the leaflets will be distributed well over 100,000 times during the next three months.

Yahoo! visitors will see an animated click-through leaflet/banner that will take them directly to the campaign's web site to provide them information concerning the business practices of AHL Services.

In conjunction with the launch of the virtual leafleting campaign, organizers will also employ more traditional methods used by organized labor to reach the public with informational leafleting. On January 18, in Los Angeles, picketers dressed as computers will leaflet Silicon Valley-bound passengers at LAX with information about the company's labor practices and the new web site. Picketers will also take the message directly to AHL headquarters in Atlanta on the same day.

The Respect at LAX Campaign had already joined the virtual world by establishing its own web site -- http://www.justiceatAHL.org . However, the campaign is now taking a big step forward by actually running Internet advertising to directly communicate with both AHL customers and the general public.

Denise Mitchell, Communication Director of the AFL-CIO hailed the tactic as, "a very exciting development. We can reach hundreds of thousands of consumers and potential activists who may not even know about a labor dispute efficiently and effectively." According to recent statistics from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc., in November 1999, there were 118.4 million people with Internet access. In addition, Yahoo! was ranked as the second highest visited web site last month, with over 40 million visitors.

Respect at LAX is one of the largest joint organizing campaigns in country, bringing together two of the fastest growing unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union to organize low-wage workers at Los Angeles International Airport.

SOURCE The Service Employees International Union
Web Site: http://www.un-fulfilled.com or http://www.justiceatAHL.org

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