Activate: The Organising Hub “vital” in maximising ballot turnout

Across the UK, activists are taking full advantage of the Organising Hub, a unique organising tool available on PCS Digital.

It allows us to modify PCS records to show that a member has voted, to update personal contact details, and to trigger the process for a replacement ballot paper request for a member.

This work is important during the current ballot period as it can confirm whether members have posted (or intend to post) their ballots. It provides us with a reliable picture of the campaign’s progress, both centrally and at branch level.

By prioritising who you talk to, you will improve the prospect of members posting their ballot and of the union hitting the 50% legal turnout threshold.

Lee Johnson, who works in the Kilmarnock Jobcentre, which is part of the DWP Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway branch, is relatively new to being a rep.

Like using any new platform, it took a while for Lee to familiarise himself with the ins-and-outs of the PCS Organising Hub. But with help from his full time officer, he has been one of the most prolific users of the platform in his region to get the vote out.

He has mostly used the Hub to contact members via the reveal mobile feature, to follow up on the ballot, and to track the percentage of members who have said they have voted.

“The hub has allowed myself and other branch officers to contact members directly and to track in 'real time' the percentage who have returned their ballot,” he says.

Vital for turnout

For Lee, one of the main advantages to using the Organising Hub is the ability it gives “to reach out to members directly”. This, he says, is “vital in maximising the turnout for the ballot”.

The Organising Hub is intended not to replace but to complement face-to-face conversations. Although “it is no substitute for face-to-face conversations”, it does “make it possible to contact hard to reach members or those with hybrid work patterns”.

It can also help to identify hard to reach members (those with no contact details) and allows the branches to focus on trying to make alternative contact with them, to encourage them to update their details as well as to vote.

But his branch is not solely relying on the Organising Hub to get the vote out.

Other outreach tactics to ensure that members vote in the strike ballot include face-to-face conversations, tailored emails, messaging on Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp groups. He is also hoping to start making use of CallHub.

“Get to know and build relationships with as many of your members as you can and from this process, identify the ones who can act as advocates and speak with other members,” Lee adds, as a final piece of advice for fellow activists.

Those interested can learn more about how to access and use the Organising Hub.