Mapping of trade unions' use of digital communication and education tools

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended millions of lives. Lockdowns, large scale layoffs and community quarantines have fundamentally disrupted trade union work at the global and local levels. This brief study maps out how global union federations in the Asia-Pacific region and their national and local affiliates are responding to the pandemic and how they are using alternative online communication and education tools to continue their union work. 

The newly-launched report is based on interviews with nine Asia GUF regional secretaries and one international workers’ organization. It shows how COVID-19 has served as a catalyst for digital transformation of trade unions in Asia and highlights challenges. The report illustrates how, after the initial shock of the pandemic, unions began to use digital technology to communicate, educate and campaign at the local and regional level. The GUFs initially connected with their national affiliates using whatever digital tools available and then gradually began to establish regular communication channels on common platforms through skills training and in some instances providing the hardware to ensure affiliates in all countries can participate.

The research highlights how the digital divide affected unions operating in countries across the Global South where Internet is not always readily available and how this is made worse in rural settings where access to communication an information is often severely limited. The high costs of Internet connections as well as smart phones are a major stumbling block to ensure effective use of digital applications and methods for communication and education within and between unions. Digital literacy also varies from country to country and from one economic sector to another. The need to address the digital divide was stressed upon by all the representatives that took part in the interviews.