Trade unions: The need for relevance in the digital era

As the coalition government imposes a programme of budget cuts to fight the deficit, the UK's unions have been gearing up for the most testing time many employees will have experienced.

There's long been a sense that the relevance of unions is diminishing as membership falls, while younger generations are often accused of apathy. Yet the UK saw an unprecedented response to protest the rise in university tuition fees, and an estimated half a million people took to the streets for the March for the Alternative anti-cuts rally on March 26.

With up to 500,000 job losses expected in the public sector over the next five years, the union movement is in a unique position, with the potential to mobilise and support popular opinion. Illustrated by its impact across the Middle East and Africa, the political power of social media is unquestioned, so why are the UK's trade unions slow to revolutionise comms?

While the unions are firmly in the public eye, Pearlfinders spoke to communications professionals across the public and private trade unions for a perspective on how they're capitalising on that attention and communicating in the digital age.

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