Digital trade union work
Funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, this projects examines the use of trade union practices to resist right-wing media accounts, create influential discourse about disputes, and directly access public opinion, and how these tactics could enhance unions' bargaining capacity.
Project Lead: Cat Morgan
Co-Investigators: James Richards, Kate Sang
Funding Body: The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Existing literature demonstrates how trade unions have a vital battle to fight when in dispute with the employer, responding to the (often right-leaning) media, which typically present disputes as 'illogical', 'damaging', and 'unnecessary'.
Over the past decade, UK unions have begun to build capacity across social media platforms, campaigning about issues like the cost of living crisis, recruiting members and shaping public opinion of disputes.
Since June 2022, the RMT union, which has been in an almost head-on dispute with rail employers, the government and the media, have made creative use of Twitter. They have developed successful tactics that resist right-wing media accounts, create influential discourses about disputes and directly access public opinion, historically off-limits except to the press and government.
Understanding such practices could enhance unions' bargaining capacity, lead to positive outcomes for its members and aid unions in navigating some of the toughest strike-related legislation in the world.