I am Alex White, a progressive campaign strategist, writer, social marketer and policy activist.
Conservative crank Gerard Henderson wrote last year that unions “have nothing to fear from external competition”. Apart from demonstrating that he knows relatively little about the new Fair Work Act, which allows for inter-union disputes over membership coverage, the sentiment he expressed, that unions do not face “traditional”, market based competition, is one I’ve heard expressed [...]
Because unions are democratic organisations, accountable to members and with a leadership elected by members, as organisations they face considerable challenges in messaging. Add to this the fact that many unions have a diverse membership covering distinct and structurally different industries. It’s no wonder that many unions struggle to develop strong, consistent messaging. The key to [...]
Social media is a powerful tool for unions to communicate with their members and potential members, but it is no magic bullet and won’t automatically cause union messages to “go viral” or see a large upsurge in new members. With Facebook’s user population now exceeding one billion people, most unions are establishing a Facebook page [...]
Working as I currently do at a non-profit organisation as a development and marketing manager (and being on the boards of community organisations), I am struck by the strong parallels between the challenges faced by the NGO sector and by unions. One of my responsibilities is fundraising, achieved principally through philanthropic grants and individual donors. [...]
Occasionally I get requests asking for help or advice on social media policies for unions. Most of these are specifically how unions can manage social media use by paid officials of the union to reduce risk. With many unions in constant industrial conflict environments with hostile employers or political groups eager to exploit any lapses [...]