Development Seed Blog

Going door to door and handing out leaflets are still powerful organizing strategies for unions, but often they’re not the cheapest or best way to reach workers. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has found that reaching out to workers through text messages is effective, cheap, and quick. Through the service Chikka.com, organizers send free text messages to “scores of workers” all at once. And through more traditional organizing tactics, they are getting workers cell phone numbers easily. Union officer  Anna Lee M. Fos said:

Every time we conduct Focused Group Discussions or local-level orientation sessions, we ask workers to fill up a registration form including their cell phone number. We can text them reminders such as "come to the certification election” even if they are not union members
yet.

The Philippines seems to be on the cutting-edge of cell phone use. A ringtone helped spark calls (ultimately unsuccessfully) for President Gloria  Arroyo’s resignation this summer.

You can read more about this at 160Characters and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.