Framing a worker-led green transition
Building public support for greener steel and car manufacturing, for a national labour movement organisation and its campaigns agency.
The challenge
A national labour movement organisation, working with a specialist campaigns agency, wanted to develop messaging guidelines that would convince the public of the need for a worker-led transition to greener industry. The focus was on making steel in a more environmentally friendly way and on producing electric rather than petrol or diesel vehicles, on the basis that these industries had to become more sustainable to survive and keep providing jobs.
They asked us to help develop and test messages with the public, so that they would be both credible and motivating.
Our approach
We made two key recommendations.
Start with the workers
The people in steel and car plants would be most affected by the change, so we began by talking to them, to make sure any campaign reflected their voices and values.
Test with the people who shape policy
The messages needed to persuade people whose views could shape government policy. We recommended talking to undecided voters in the swing constituencies of the ‘Red Wall’: people who had historically voted one way but switched at the 2019 general election. We called them ‘Red Wall Waverers’.
The project ran in four steps:
- Test and develop arguments with workers
- Test and develop them in online interviews with Red Wall Waverers
- Develop them further in a workshop with the client and agency teams
- Test them in face-to-face focus groups with Red Wall Waverers
The findings
Red Wall Waverers were very pessimistic about British industry coming back, and sceptical about the need for a green transition. But they were also deeply worried about the lack of jobs for young people in their area. Focusing on opportunities for young people got them interested in the investment, and stories and arguments drawn from the worker interviews convinced them that greener industry was possible with the right investment, and a real opportunity for their communities and the country.
The strategy and result
Our key messaging guidelines were to:
- Focus on employment opportunities for the younger generation
- Make clear that a green transition of industry is inevitable, and a chance to transform our industries into something new and future-proofed
- Highlight the risk that, if we don’t act, our industries could be lost overseas
- Make clear that the transition needs government, companies and unions working together, so investment goes where it’s needed and is used well
We presented the findings with the client and agency in a webinar for climate and union organisations, helping them communicate the need for a green transition of industry effectively. The agency then turned the findings into published messaging guidelines.
