UAW ads seek to reintroduce union

DETROIT, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The United Auto Workers Union is running an ad campaign to let the U.S. public know the union isn't just for autoworkers anymore.

New television spots and a Web site tell stories of UAW members about their work in communities and their concerns about issues such as workplace safety, The Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday. The union also invites members to relate their stories on the Web site, www.iamtheuaw.org.

This is the first ad campaign in which the UAW has been focused on membership. It also may help rebuild the UAW's reputation after strikes against General Motors and Chrysler were followed by concession-laden contracts, a management professor told the newspaper.

"It's a survival tactic for the UAW to broaden its appeal to new groups of workers and to make it seem as if it's not the old UAW," said Gary Chaison, professor of management at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.