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The University of California (UC) has dismissed objections [8] by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union to UC management's hiring of Hill & Knowlton [9] to spin its labor record. UC's Executive Director of Systemwide Labor Relations, Howard J. Pripas, did not respond to the specific concerns raised by AFSCME, such as H&K's work for the tobacco industry [10], instead praising the PR firm. "Hill & Knowlton," Pripas wrote, "is one of the most well-known and well respected firms in the world." After AFSCME went public with its concern, H&K's Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Mark Thorne, wrote [11] wrote to PR Week, stating that the firm has a policy "that we will not provide services in any way related to tobacco, anywhere in the world." The UC hierarchy, on the other hand, is opposing [12] a policy that would ban the university from accepting tobacco industry funding of research projects.
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/7/bob-burton
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/issue-management
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/education
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/labor
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations
[6] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/tobacco
[7] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2007%2F08%2F6388%2Funiversity-california-praises-hill-knowlton&linkname=University%20of%20California%20Praises%20Hill%20%26%20Knowlton
[8] http://www.prwatch.org/node/6336
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hill_&_Knowlton
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/tobacco_industry
[11] http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/730078/AFSCME-urges-University-CA-cut-ties-Hill---Knowlton/
[12] http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25562
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Image:UC_Letter_Re_H%26K.pdf