Unite launches an online strategy to mobilise members to fight for
jobs during the recession and beyond
15th May 2009
Unite, Britain's biggest union, has launched an online strategy
to mobilise members to fight for jobs during the recession and
beyond.
With the help of Blue State Digital (BSD) - the company US
president Obama used throughout his presidential campaign
- the union is stepping up its e-campaign strategy.
The campaign is using online networking to mobilise union
members to attend a traditional nationwide march and rally this
Saturday (16th May). The march is the centrepiece of the Unite for
Jobs campaign. Thousands of people from across the country will be
uniting at 11am at Highfield Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15.
The union has sent out almost a million specially tailored
emails during the campaign to get the word out about the unions’
demands, the march, and to build an online relationship with
members by talking about the impact of the recession on them.
The online campaign has allowed the union to go beyond its own
membership with over 6,500 invites sent out by members to their
family and friends through the union's email system. This month
alone Unite has had on average 19,000 hits to its website per day.
The strategy has allowed the members to become online advocates for
the union.
Unite's campaign is to press for a clear programme of action to
help protect the approximately one million skilled jobs in this
country that depend on manufacturing, including:
• A short-time working subsidy to keep skilled workers in post
and off the dole;
• Action by our government to defend manufacturing on the
scale of our EU competitors;
• Rapid action to ensure easier access to credit from the now
state-owned banks.
The union has received 16,000 petition signatures in a week
calling on the government to do more to help working people during
the recession.
The campaign has ensured that 500 people have written to their
MPs asking them to support the Unite for Jobs march.
Earlier this year, Unite launched a new interactive website and
so far this month, the website has had an average of 19,000 hits a
day. The site allows members to tailor their own pages on the
issues which are relevant to their working lives. The union also
has its own internet based videocast service 'Union TV' which
features news about topical trade union issues and video packages
showing trade unions at work. The aim is to provide a trade union
perspective on all the major industrial and political issues, an
uncensored view from working people on what's happening to them and
their families today.
Unite's joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said: “Unite is
using online strategies to mobilise its members to fight for jobs
and to give them a voice during the recession.
“The campaign has begun by bringing together the old and new by
using online networking to mobilise working people to attend a
traditional nationwide march and rally in Birmingham on
Saturday.”
“The stories people have told us are astonishing and tragic,
we're proud to give them a voice. The web is a way of allowing
people to be active - even if they can't march with us.
“Everyday union activists across the country come face-to-face
with employers and the government fighting to keep people in work.
A two million strong union also has huge potential to harness the
power of the internet to communicate with and listen to our members
and potential members."
ENDS
Contact: Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315
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