How can union organisers and campaigners make the most of digital tools to reach workers, build campaigns and turn supporters into active participants? The TUC’s free digital platform for unions, Megaphone.org.uk, has a lot to offer towards this. In this edit of a webinar for organisers, TUC digital campaigner Matthew Topham introduces Megaphone.org.uk. He and … Continue reading Video: Using Megaphone.org.uk in union campaigns

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One of the risks in digitising sometimes old-fashioned systems and processes is that you can naturally look at those organisations striving to be at the leading edge of change, and assume the union needs what they’re trying. Innovation can easily slip into being defined by what’s newest, rather than what’s necessary. In the TUC Digital … Continue reading Digital unionism means innovating with purpose

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As unions digitise, something subtle but significant happens. Technology doesn’t just change processes, it can change where power sits inside the organisation. From the TUC’s early online community unionreps.org.uk to our campaigning platform megaphone.org.uk and innovation in our affiliated unions, we’ve seen digitisation consistently support new forms of decentralisation. It gained a huge boost over … Continue reading Digital unionism means decentralisation and power

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Union members manage most of their lives through digital interactions. From banking and travel to shopping and public services, they are used to fast, personalised responses. As a result, they expect all organisations they interact with to be responsive, transparent and available whenever they need them. However, many unions still run highly manual processes for … Continue reading Marketing automation for trade unions

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In the last post, we talked about how digitisation isn’t just about tech – it’s about adapting to meet members’ modern needs and expectations. But of course it is also about tech, and about unions developing a new relationship with it. Tech systems shape what unions are able to do every day. And just as … Continue reading Digital unionism means systems and investment

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When trade unions talk about digital change, it’s easy to start with systems: a new CRM, an app, a website redesign. But when members experience the union, they don’t encounter this technical infrastructure. They encounter journeys. The TUC Digital Lab has worked on many themes around members’ interactions with their unions, such as online joining, … Continue reading Digital unionism means meeting members’ expectations

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In the 6 years we’ve been operating the TUC Digital Lab programme, the pilot projects, events and shared learning we’ve been running with our affiliated unions has generated a huge amount of content. There are reports, how-to-guides, case studies, workshop write-ups and blogs. It runs to over 330,000 words in all. And as it’s spread … Continue reading What is digital trades unionism? A short blog series

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Online voting in UK trade union statutory ballots is being introduced this year, as part of the government’s broader reforms to modernise workplace rights, under the Make Work Pay agenda. This is something the TUC and unions have consistently campaigned for, over more than two decades. And union experience with indicative ballots means we have a … Continue reading Preparing the union for online statutory balloting

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We’ve just released the latest major version of the TUC’s digital healthcheck tool, version 4.01. It’s been more than five years since our last version, so we wanted to revisit it and make some changes to reflect the fast-moving world of technology. What’s different, and what’s the same? We’ve looked across the whole tool to … Continue reading TUC digital healthcheck v4 – A new version of our union benchmarking tool

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The internet is getting worse by the day. Platforms like Google, Facebook or Amazon are getting unusable – crammed with intrusive ads, user surveillance and AI slop content. Tech workers who used to add value for users are laid off to improve share prices. It’s all part of the big tech playbook to build monopolies, … Continue reading Tech unions vs enshittification

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Brian Young is the founder and director of Action Network – a progressive tech co-op that’s become a backbone for digital campaigning and organising across the US labour and progressive movements. It operates the Action Network campaign CRM internationally, and is currently about to offer its organising toolset Action Builder to Europe for the first … Continue reading Building union power in the digital age: Lessons from Action Network’s Brian Young

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Brian Young is the founder and director of Action Network – a progressive tech co-op that’s become a backbone for digital campaigning and organising across the US labour and progressive movements. It operates the Action Network campaign CRM internationally, and is currently about to offer its organising toolset Action Builder to Europe for the first … Continue reading Building union power in the digital age: Lessons from Action Network’s Brian Young

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Phishing is the most common form of cyber attack, and in the last couple of years it’s been the starting point for some of the most damaging attacks on unions. Around the world and in the UK, unions have lost millions to scams, had their members’ personal data stolen, and been locked out of their … Continue reading Video: Why and how unions should use phishing simulation

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Cyber-crime is growing year on year in the UK. At the same time trade unions’ reliance on digital technology to operate effectively raises the stakes ever higher. If our computer networks are compromised by criminals, the results could be disastrous for our ability to operate, our finances, and the trust of our members. Even with … Continue reading Email phishing simulation to keep unions safe

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Back in 2015, Microsoft launched Windows 10. It quickly became the go-to operating system for businesses and individuals alike, thanks to an improved user interface, stability and compatibility with a wide range of hardware.  But as technology moves on, so too does support. With Windows 11 having now been available for four years, Microsoft has … Continue reading Does your union still have Windows 10 PCs? Here’s what to do before Microsoft support ends 

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