Checking member data with commercial data cleaning services: NASUWT case study

Dec 19, 2023By TUC Digital

Accurate member data is essential for a trade union of any size. If the purpose of a union is to build power and improve members’ experiences in workplaces, it is fundamental that it is clear who members are, where they work and how to get hold of them. This is especially true in the context … Continue reading Checking member data with commercial data cleaning services: NASUWT case study

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Dec 19, 2023TUC Digital

Digital tools to run check off to direct debit member switching campaigns

Dec 7, 2023By TUC Digital

The TUC Digital Lab held a webinar on how unions can run the most effective online campaigns to switch members from check off dues deduction to paying via direct debit. The context The government have laid secondary legislation to implement some of the remaining parts of the 2016 Trade Union Act that they were unable … Continue reading Digital tools to run check off to direct debit member switching campaigns

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Dec 7, 2023TUC Digital

AI Summit is dominated by Big Tech and a “missed opportunity”, civil society orgs tell PM

Oct 30, 2023By TUC Digital

More than 100 civil society organisations from across the UK and world have branded the government’s AI Summit as “a missed opportunity”. In an open letter to Rishi Sunak they warn the “communities and workers most affected by AI have been marginalise…Read more…

Oct 30, 2023TUC Digital

Engaging childcare workers online – case study

Oct 18, 2023By TUC Digital

Making first contact with non-member workers in a new workplace is getting steadily more difficult for unions. Our changing economy has for a long time meant that there are increasingly industries with higher union density, and others with little or none. Changing work patterns towards casualisation have made it harder for workers to meet each … Continue reading Engaging childcare workers online – case study

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Oct 18, 2023TUC Digital

How do we retain more members in our unions?

Oct 17, 2023By TUC Digital

In early October, the Digital Lab met to discuss digital aspects of member retention. UK union membership fell overall in both 2021 and 2022, and now stands at the lowest level since records began in 1995. Colleagues from a dozen unions joined our workshop to consider together why members might leave, and what unions can … Continue reading How do we retain more members in our unions?

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Oct 17, 2023TUC Digital

Using peer-to-peer SMS to have real conversations aimed at member retention – RCM case study

Oct 5, 2023By TUC Digital

Our membership within the Royal College of Midwives consists of a very specific workforce – midwives and maternity support workers, and there’s a clear pathway into that workforce through midwifery students. We’re lucky to have the opportunity to engage and recruit them throughout their course and before qualification; however some work needed to be done … Continue reading Using peer-to-peer SMS to have real conversations aimed at member retention – RCM case study

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Oct 5, 2023TUC Digital

Five lessons on leadership for union digital change – Kevin Courtney

Sep 25, 2023By TUC Digital

Since the start of the TUC’s Digital Lab project in 2019, my NEU Joint GS colleague Mary Bousted and I have shared the newly created role of lead members for digital change on the TUC’s Executive Committee. We’ve talked with other union leaders about this on many occasions, as well as trying to take forward … Continue reading Five lessons on leadership for union digital change – Kevin Courtney

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Sep 25, 2023TUC Digital

Measuring and analysing member engagement levels at the CSP

Sep 8, 2023By TUC Digital

Member engagement is a big priority for the CSP. It gives value to our members for being part of the community. It really helps with recruitment as well, because happy, engaged members are really good advocates for future CSP membership. And an engaged membership helps the union be better informed, more active and more influential, … Continue reading Measuring and analysing member engagement levels at the CSP

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Sep 8, 2023TUC Digital

Scoring engagement to improve the member experience at Equity

Sep 6, 2023By TUC Digital

At Equity, we’ve started a programme to use the Net Promoter Score measurement in our member engagement work. It should help us understand better how members are feeling about their union, and also give us tangible pointers for where we can improve their experience with us. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a concept that was … Continue reading Scoring engagement to improve the member experience at Equity

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Sep 6, 2023TUC Digital

Managing big tech changes in UK unions

Aug 31, 2023By TUC Digital

Deploying new technology can often be challenging. But deploying technology that will change organisations and how the people within them do their work is generally a lot more complicated than just the technology itself. As distributed organisations, with many stakeholders and complex democratic structures, unions have a lot to consider. Those projects that don’t address … Continue reading Managing big tech changes in UK unions

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Aug 31, 2023TUC Digital

Award-winning digital tools for reps: NEU case study

Aug 31, 2023By TUC Digital

Every year, the TUC hosts the Union Campaigns and Communications awards, which highlights good practice in comms work across TUC affiliates over the year. Winning this year’s category for best communications with reps and activists was the NEU’s Pay Up! campaign, which developed a dedicated portal for activists, giving them insight into how the unions’ … Continue reading Award-winning digital tools for reps: NEU case study

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Aug 31, 2023TUC Digital

Using WhatsApp in union organising and communications

Aug 11, 2023By TUC Digital

WhatsApp is the most used app in the world, with an estimated 30.1 million users in the UK alone. While it’s best known as a messaging service, it also includes audio and video calls, voice messages, and sharing for photos, files and links. The service allows group communication as well as marketing communication. Shared conversations … Continue reading Using WhatsApp in union organising and communications

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Aug 11, 2023TUC Digital

What is shadow IT? And why should unions care?

Jun 28, 2023By TUC Digital

At the TUC, we’re currently embarking on a project to identify and rationalise the shadow IT that our organisation uses. It’s one of our biggest digital and data risks, and will be for most unions as well. First some definitions. When we’re talking about “shadow IT”, we mean the use of a whole secondary set … Continue reading What is shadow IT? And why should unions care?

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Jun 28, 2023TUC Digital

Getting the best deals on tech for unions – lessons from negotiation and group-buying at the ACTU

Jun 19, 2023By TUC Digital

Modern unions buy in so many different types of services. At the Australian union federation ACTU’s Union Innovation Hub we’ve looked across a huge range of them to try to save our unions money. In terms of digital tools, that’s included things like CRM, websites, survey tools, event tools, campaign tools, learning management systems, membership … Continue reading Getting the best deals on tech for unions – lessons from negotiation and group-buying at the ACTU

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Jun 19, 2023TUC Digital

Introducing cloud CRM platforms for unions

Jun 14, 2023By TUC Digital

We asked unions last year about what they wanted in terms of shared activity around the CRM projects so many of us are going through. One of those things was more to demystify the market for platform CRM, and which products are out there. Many of us have been using particular membership database products for … Continue reading Introducing cloud CRM platforms for unions

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Jun 14, 2023TUC Digital

Change management to support union tech projects

May 26, 2023By TUC Digital

Implementing a new CRM or other core tech project without paying attention to how you manage the change within the union is risky. At best you may end up missing out on key benefits, and at worst, fundamentally limiting the union’s ability to operate on the new tech. We ran a session with independent IT … Continue reading Change management to support union tech projects

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May 26, 2023TUC Digital

A dedicated onboarding journey for young members – Nautilus International case study

May 23, 2023By TUC Digital

At Nautilus International, we’ve been working on a digital engagement project to improve the on-boarding process for our cadet members. The situation Nautilus represents maritime professionals working at sea and ashore. We’re a transnational union with about 20,000 members in the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland. We cover people who are experienced in senior roles, through … Continue reading A dedicated onboarding journey for young members – Nautilus International case study

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May 23, 2023TUC Digital

Design principles for a new union CRM project

May 22, 2023By TUC Digital

When we set up the TUC Digital Lab, the first thing we did was to work with unions to devise a set of 8 digital design principles to help inform our work. They’ve stood up pretty well over the years and been useful to us on many occasions in steering the choices we make in … Continue reading Design principles for a new union CRM project

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May 22, 2023TUC Digital

Preparing for major union campaigns online

May 4, 2023By TUC Digital

The need for unions to mount and sustain large scale campaigns has grown in recent years. We’ve seen major national industrial disputes for many unions. Fundamental challenges such as government attempts to curtail the right to strike. And for those unions who are politically affiliated, an upcoming general election campaign. Digital technologies increase our options … Continue reading Preparing for major union campaigns online

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May 4, 2023TUC Digital

Understanding your union’s direct debit options

Apr 24, 2023By TUC Digital

Direct Debit has been really important to unions. It helps safeguard union income against the threats to check-off dues collection. And it also helps us make more of the opportunities for a direct and personalised membership experience with our members. For most unions, running Direct Debits as efficiently as possible will be a real boon … Continue reading Understanding your union’s direct debit options

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Apr 24, 2023TUC Digital