TUC Digital - Supporting digital-first trades unionism.

Answering big questions by starting small – Developing the WorkSmart prototype

The TUC’s WorkSmart project explores how unions could engage with young workers who have little awareness of us. Over the last two years we’ve developed an idea that could appeal to young workers. It’s based on their desire to get ahead in working lives that too many feel are getting stuck.

Getting started with Service Design for unions: TUC Digital Lab workshop report

Service Design is a broad and diverse discipline which seeks to optimise an organisation’s services by focusing on aligning the experience people have of using them. It’s a way of working that’s become increasingly common across government, business and voluntary sector alike.

Data and unions: TUC Digital Lab workshop report

To date, making decisions based on data to improve union experience has mostly been an aspiration, rather than the reality for most trade unions. There are some good examples of testing and optimisation taking place (see earlier sessions on ‘joining’ in particular for this), but it’s not as widespread as it could be.

In October 2019, the TUC Digital Lab ran a session on how we could better use data to manage our unions. We wanted to discover the challenges we as unions face in developing a culture where data is regularly gathered, interrogated and acted upon.

How do you get your users to actually use your union digital project?

Digital change projects are only partly about making sure a new bit of technology works. Even the best specified new tech tools won’t be any use if people don’t agree to change their current behaviour and engage properly with a new system or process.

When you’re trying to get someone to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do, you’ve got two options. You can motivate them to get over the barriers to taking the actions needed. Or you can make the barriers much easier to get over.

Four digital challenges for unions that might be better tackled as a movement

At the TUC Digital Lab, we ran a survey amongst our affiliated unions, looking at their readiness for digital transformation. We found a mixed picture, with a number of technical and cultural areas where unions need to do more to meet the rising digital expectations of their membership and future members.

The report made some recommendations for union leaderships in evaluating their best next steps for their organisations. But it also suggested some areas where unions could benefit by working together on digital.

What does ‘digital’ mean for your union?

One of the challenges in looking at the experience of digital in UK unions is that there isn’t really any single accepted definition of ‘digital’ across the movement. Different unions currently have quite different conceptions of what digital means to them.

Measuring our digital journey: A survey of UK unions

Next year, millennials will make up more than 50% of the workforce. Those who entered work during the internet age are nearly all instinctively digital-first. They’re also mobile – connected throughout the day, from wherever they are.

Finding out what makes prospective members click

There are an estimated 6,000 people working in visual effects in the UK – most of them clustered around London’s Soho. London has become one of the three international hubs for this burgeoning industry.

Getting more out of your union’s content: TUC Digital Lab workshop report

Just what do we mean by ‘content’?

Content is the lifeblood of websites, emails, social media posts, text messages, apps and more. If unions don’t have good content, where will our members find the help and advice they need? (The answer is, of course, somewhere else on the internet).

Summer Patrol: taking offline conversations to online organising

The TUC Summer Patrol is an organising campaign run by young trade union unionists in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. The aim is to visit high streets to interview and engage young workers about their workplace conditions, their legal rights, and how they can organise to improve their workplace.