Examining Labor Union Political Mobilization Tactics in the Modern Campaign Context

The treatments pushed members either to return their mail ballots or to vote early, in-person. The second experiment investigates what type of phone script is most effective at encouraging union members to connect to their state representative’s office, and to advocate for or against a certain piece of legislation. This chapter builds on one previous field experiment to determine whether these phone scripts are a viable way to encourage members to interact with their elected officials, and which type of script language encourages union members (and constituents) to contact their legislator.

Finally, my third field experiment focuses on two canvassing experiments conducted by the state affiliate of a national labor union before the April 1st, 2014 election. Targets of the membership organization were randomly assigned to treatment and to control groups. Post-election turnout records determined that the canvass successfully stimulated turnout among those who received a face-to-face contact from the labor union