Organise Now a peer to peer trade union organising project backed by Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), National Union of Students (NUS), Strike Map and Notes From Below, has today launched the first ever ‘automated large language model bot’ to help workers start organising a union at work.  

This bot, a first of its kind, will be a digital version of BFAWU general secretary, Sarah Woolley, is trained to provide users with basic information to help them organise around a range of issues at work and encourage users to get in touch with the Organise Now! for more dedicated peer support.

Sarah Woolley, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) General Secretary, said, “We are really excited about the possibility of this type of initiative in supporting workers organising unions at work. Last year our movement lost 200,000 members, most of them women in the private sector. Through Organise Now, we are committed to reversing that trend.” 

The bot will be deployed on the Organise Now website as a pop up to engage those that visit its site. It will also be deployed on the NUS’s own campaign website student power at work, as a way of engaging students and apprentices to find out more about unions, join them and get active in them. 

Nehaal Bajwa, NUS Vice President Liberation and Equality said, “This is exactly why we partnered with Organise Now. This project is an innovative way to appeal to workers and build support for trade unions among students, most of which work during their studies or, as apprentices, are already in full time employment. They desperately need accessible ways to get advice on organising such as this.”

Alongside attracting younger people to trade unions and union activity, and building the trade union movement in traditionally poorer organised private sector settings like hospitality, the Organise Now project has attracted support from highly unionised parts of the wider labour movement.

Mick Whelan, General Secretary of Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), commented, “We continue to be proud to support Organise Now as a project. The development of this type of technology to support workers organising unions is exactly what our movement should be doing. We should not be leaving the AI and tech revolution to the employers, but instead embracing it to build the workers movements, we would urge other trade unions to support Organise Now as we do.”

This piece of technology was built by Bombe, who this week announced a historic partnership with the General Federation of Trade Unions who will be able to provide technology, data tools and organising platforms to the whole trade union movement. 

Spokesperson for Bombe said, “Our mission is to make the best audience targeting and insight model in the world. We are proud to help our clients achieve their goals. We help the world communicate”. 

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

You can view the bot here:  https://www.organisenow.org.uk/organise-now-chat/

For media enquiries, please email us on contact@organisenow.org.uk

Spokespeople are available for broadcast interviews. About Organise NowBuilt by workers for workers, Organise Now! is a peer to peer organising network responding to the crises in work, pay and living standards. Skilled and experienced workers from across sectors are available now to help you and your co-workers organise to defend and improve your working lives and build power.

Workers who want help complete a short online form and within 72 hours they are contacted by one of our volunteers. Organise Now is supported by Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), National Union of Students (NUS), Strike Map and Notes From Below. For more information please go to: www.organisenow.org.uk

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