Why recent email authentication changes matter to unions, and what we should do about it 

In recent months, technical standards for all bulk email have been tightened. It’s started as a response to changes in the US, but as of this month will be affecting everyone. At the TUC, we’re seeing some cases of union email not getting through to the members and stakeholders we want to communicate with.  

That’s a big risk to unions if we could lose the ability to communicate with members when we need to. There are ways to put it right though, and prompt action in union IT teams will hopefully avoid damage. 

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Migrating your union’s data to a new CRM

A TUC Digital Lab practical guide

Your CRM contains the heart of your union’s data. It manages your key interactions with members and your intelligence about what’s happening to the union over time. As such, migrating your data from one CRM to another absolutely must succeed in a way that keeps the integrity of that data, and that keeps it usable for the union’s core processes.

If you’ve been using your existing membership database for a long while, as many unions have, then you’ll likely have built up a huge number of workarounds and parallel processes. These can take a long time to unpick in order to bring them into the new system.

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Four tech trends for unions in 2024

2024 marks the fifth year of our shared journey into digital change for unions, with the TUC’s Digital Lab programme.

Since we started, we’ve tackled best practice on digital in many areas of union activity, and worked directly with many unions to test new ways of working. And unions have done some brilliant work – Our case studies page just passed 50 great examples from across our affiliates, and more are coming in all the time.

We’ve tried to respond to affiliates’ changing needs as well. 2023 was busy with work around union core membership systems change, and supporting strike ballot campaigns, where we’ve seen real impact for unions using peer-to-peer tools to involve activists in turning out some historic votes.

As we turn towards 2024, we’re expecting to see more work on four broad areas for digital unions. Here’s a bit more about where we’re planning to take the programme over the next 12 months.

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

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.

We looked into what would make a switching campaign more effective, in terms of tech, process and communications.

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

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 marginalised by the Summit” while a select few corporations seek to shape the rules.

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Managing big tech changes in UK unions

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.

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Award-winning digital tools for reps: NEU case study

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’ ballots were progressing, and integrated comms tools to scale their own work in communicating with members to deliver in their own area.

The NEU’s Mike Joslin joined a TUC Digital Lab webinar to look deeper into what they did, and the results it helped them get for their campaign.

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Using WhatsApp in union organising and communications

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 are possible within small interest groups or up to hundreds of people at once.

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