University Defends Using Hill & Knowlton [1]
Submitted by Bob Burton [2] on
A local branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representing University of California (UC) employees is protesting against UC management's hiring Hill & Knowlton [3] to spin its labor record. The union called [4] on the university to drop the PR firm, citing John Stauber [5] and Sheldon Rampton [6]'s book, "Trust Us, We're Experts [7]," which recounted H&K's work opposing measures to reduce children's lead exposure. In a letter [8] to UC President Robert Dynes, a coalition supporting the AFSCME branch pointed out that the company had also worked for the tobacco industry [9] and "some of the worst human rights abusing states in the world." In an email to PR Week, UC spokesperson Peter Schwartz responded that H&K "has been invaluable in helping us to keep our employees and the general public educated about UC labor negotiations."