Digital media have become central to how labor unions communicate, organize, and sustain collective action. Yet little is known about how unions' online discourse relates to concrete outcomes such as representation elections. This study addresses the gap by combining National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election data with 158k Facebook posts published by U.S. labor unions between 2015 and 2024. We focused on five discourse frames widely recognized in labor and social movement communication research: diagnostic (identifying problems), prognostic (proposing solutions), motivational (mobilizing action), community (emphasizing solidarity), and engagement (promoting social media interaction). Using a fine-tuned RoBERTa classifier, we systematically annotated unions' posts and analyzed patterns of frame usage around election events. Our findings showed that diagnostic and community frames dominated union communication overall, but that frame usage varied substantially across organizations. Greater use of diagnostic, prognostic, and community frames prior to an election was associated with higher odds of a successful outcome. After elections, framing patterns diverged depending on results: after wins, the use of prognostic and motivational frames decreased, whereas after losses, the use of prognostic and engagement frames increased. By examining variation in message-level framing, the study highlights how communication strategies correlate with organizational success, contributing open tools and data, and complementing prior research in understanding digital communication of unions and social movements.

翻译：数字媒体已成为工会进行沟通、组织并维持集体行动的核心工具。然而，关于工会的在线话语与代表权选举等具体结果之间有何关联，学界知之甚少。本研究通过将国家劳工关系委员会（NLRB）的选举数据与2015年至2024年间美国工会发布的15.8万条Facebook帖子相结合，填补了这一空白。我们聚焦于劳工与社会运动传播研究中广泛认可的五个话语框架：诊断框架（识别问题）、预后框架（提出解决方案）、动员框架（激发行动）、社群框架（强调团结）与互动框架（促进社交媒体互动）。利用经过微调的RoBERTa分类器，我们系统性地对工会帖子进行了标注，并分析了选举事件前后框架使用的模式。研究发现，总体而言，诊断框架和社群框架在工会传播中占主导地位，但不同组织间的框架使用差异显著。在选举前，诊断框架、预后框架和社群框架的使用频率越高，选举成功的几率就越大。选举后，框架使用模式因结果而异：获胜后，预后框架和动员框架的使用减少；而失败后，预后框架和互动框架的使用增加。通过考察信息层面框架的差异，本研究揭示了传播策略如何与组织成效相关联，贡献了开放的工具与数据，并补充了先前关于工会及社会运动数字传播的研究。