Alex’s blog about strategy, campaigning, growth, politics and climate (among other things).
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How concerned should unions be about privacy and data security?
The recent high profile data security breaches in Australia (and around the world) have highlighted the vital importance of data security for unions. Data security regulation isn’t new, but the risks of breaches are now much more real and serious than five years or ten ago. How important should data security and privacy be for… Read more
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Updated for 2022 – Introduction to Digital Campaigning for Unions
It’s been a while since I updated, but I’m alerting you to my newly updated Introduction to Digital Campaigning for Unions, which has been published by the Australian Trade Union Institute. This introduction is a resource for small to medium sized online union campaigns, run by one or two people who may not be experts… Read more
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What can unions learn for member recruitment from fundraising?
If you’re a regular reader of this fortnightly-ish newsletter, you may recall that I’ve previous advocated that unions look to non-profit fundraising programs for lessons and tactics on recruitment. That’s why I’m sending you this short prompt: this Thursday, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has its latest Innovation Series on exactly this topic. More… Read more
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Does your union need a digital strategy?
Does your union need a “digital” strategy? At the risk of sounding contrarian, the answer is no. I’ve previously written that unions don’t need strategies, that digital platforms entrench corporate power and wrote an entire guidebook for unions on digital campaigning. So I’m obviously being provocative. My point is to emphasise that rather than having… Read more
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Growth hacking your union
I’ve written before that there are two ways to grow your union: sign up new members, and retain existing members. You need both to successfully grow and build power. Most unions are familiar with the tried and true ways to grow: organising and recruitment blitzes, training delegates, attending inductions — even advertising online. But there’s… Read more
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Workplace surveillance & worker data trusts
A brief alert for an important upcoming event tomorrow, part of the Australia At Home series, about workplace surveillance and workers’ rights. A few years ago in 2016, when I led UnionsACT, the ACT Government attempted to introduce regressive workplace surveillance laws. These laws would have allowed employers to conduct covert surveillance of workers outside… Read more
