The future of worker voice
Trade union membership is in decline. With the changing world of work and with more remote and disparate workplaces, we need to rethink collective organising.
Below are a handful of the Award winners who are giving workers more voice over their terms and conditions. Organise are running single-issue campaigns that invite consumers to join causes, for example to end sexual harassment in the workplace. WorkIt, meanwhile, uses AI to inform workers about their rights. In the same vein, Contratados supplies migrants workers in the US with information about the behaviour of their prospective employers. IWGB is the first ever UK trade union with a collective bargaining agreement in the ‘gig economy’, with pathology services provider The Doctor’s Laboratory.
Organise
Organise, the UK’s first digital workplace campaigning platform, provides workers with the tools to collect data, build networks, and advocate for change. Over 20,000 people have taken action with Organise, including workers at McDonald’s, Amazon, ITV and Ted Baker.
WorkIt
Workit leverages AI to augment the expertise of trained advisors and provide low wage workers with information on their workplace rights. With over 15,000 users, WorkIt became a key tool in a campaign that resulted in Walmart now paying family leave for over 500,000 women.
Contratados
Contratados.org provides migrant workers in the US with a platform to review employers, akin to Glassdoor, alongside support such as pre-departure education and legal services. Since launching in 2014, Contratados.org has gained nearly 500,000 users.
IWGB
IWGB is the first trade union to score major successes for gig workers in the UK, through public campaigning and legal cases.
