Tuesday 13 September is an honourary “digi day” at TUC Congress in Brighton, with two fringe events tackling the challenges for unions in adapting to a digital-first world.
Over lunchtime, Unions21 will be holding a fringe on how UK unions are using digital tools to campaign and grow. It’s in room 1A from 12:45:
Unions and digital – how are unions navigating the digital world?
What makes a successful digital campaign or union website? How do we use these new tools effectively to increase our union strength? This panel will be looking at what strengths and opportunities digital tools offer and how we can evolve our practices to take into account the expectations of workers online.
Speakers: Prof Nick Anstead, LSE; Antonia Bance, TUC; Martin Smith, GMB. Chair: Sue Ferns, Chair Unions 21, Prospect Deputy General Secretary
And then at 5:45, it’s our turn with a TUC Digital Team fringe event in room 1B, looking at what future (and many current!) members will want their unions to do differently:
How can unions adapt to thrive in a digital-first world?
The generation now coming into the workforce has grown up as digital natives, not knowing what the world was like before social media and mobile technologies. How will trade unions need to adapt to stay relevant to these potential new members? In this session we will explore some of the new opportunities in digital technologies and the principles of change that underpin them. And using examples drawn from the USA and UK, we’ll discuss how they might be used to transform how British unions work, in ways that better suit our members’ needs.
Speakers: Emma Mulqueeny OBE, Founder/CEO Rewired State & Young Rewired State; Jess Kutch, Co-founder Coworker.org, via video link; Nick Scott, Digital Manager UNISON. Chair: John Wood, Digital Manager, TUC
We look forward to meeting you at either or both of them – look out for us there. And if you’re tweeting from either event, use the hashtag #digitalunions as well as #TUC16 if you can – We’ll look out for your comments.