This on-site training, hosted by industriAll Europe, brought together over 25 organisers working to unionise the fast-growing battery sector in Central and Eastern Europe.

Now one year into the ‘BatteryTUPower’ project, this event marked a new phase in capacity building: moving from mapping and national workshops to equipping organisers with digital tools and strategies to take their organising to the next level.

While the tech giants behind digital platforms are well known for being no friends of unions, trade unionists have the chance to change the dominating neoliberal and ultra-right narrative of the internet. Workers give their data voluntarily to these companies every day – and unions can also make smart, ethical use of digital tools to reach out, connect, and organise.

Through sessions on social listening, audience targeting, survey design, messaging principles, and AI-supported content creation, participants explored how to prepare union campaigns using smart data and digital storytelling. Each team designed and refined a real-life mini-campaign targeting workplaces across the battery supply chain.

The mood was determined and focused. “This was not just training – it was the launchpad for future action,” said one participant. “We’re building something together.”

From AI-generated videos to social media mapping and WhatsApp message trees, organisers learned by doing – and left with concrete plans to implement in their unions. These campaigns will now move into union-building activities in autumn 2025, helping identify leaders, mobilise co-workers, and win recognition.

The Budapest event has strengthened the industriAll Europe Organisers’ Network, which is steadily growing with each activity. It created space for exchange and mutual learning, especially across different levels of experience – from young, digitally fluent activists to experienced workplace leaders.
This training builds on earlier work done under the BatteryTUPower project:

•    Industry mapping and strength analysis
•    National workshops in Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and Poland
•    The adoption of the industriAll Europe Occupational Health and Safety Charter for Battery Production

“Organising is a marathon, not a sprint. That’s why industriAll Europe is building a strong organiser network with our affiliates – especially in new and strategic sectors like batteries. We must equip our organisers with both traditional and digital tools to reach workers and win strong collective bargaining.”— Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary, industriAll Europe.

About the Project

‘Putting Trade Union Power into European Batteries’ is co-financed by the European Union and aims to strengthen capacity building, collective bargaining, and health & safety in the emerging battery sector. It is part of the Building Trade Union Power Organising Programme of industriAll Europe and focuses on Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Serbia – with links to global supply chains and EU industrial policy.