Tips and guidance
Running a consumer union
A consumer union needs both structure and openness. Here is guidance for founders, moderators, elected representatives and members who want to build an organisation that lasts.
Founders, moderators and elected representatives
The person who creates a consumer union on the platform becomes the organisation's founder. The founder gets the administrative access needed to build the page, invite members and appoint the first moderators. This is a practical starting function, not a right to control the union permanently.
- The founder must not use technical control over the page to establish an autocracy.
- For example, the founder may not give themselves a permanent veto, block other candidates from standing, remove members because they vote differently, or alter the result of a vote.
Once the consumer union has enough members, it should hold a first membership election. Members then vote on a board, if the organisation is to have one, and on other positions of trust. The founder may stand in the election on equal terms with others, but does not automatically keep their leading position. When an elected board has taken office, it should be able to take over the administrative control needed to run the union.
Special roles during the build-up phase
During the build-up phase there are two special roles:
- The founder is responsible for getting the consumer union started and creating the first organisational forms.
- The moderators are responsible for ensuring that conversations on the page follow the platform's and the union's rules.
Founders and moderators share responsibility for what is published in the union's forum. They need to respond to reports, correct clearly inaccurate information and intervene against threats, harassment, personal attacks, publication of private data and other rule violations. They are not responsible for all members having the same opinion, but they are responsible for the forum being used in a factual and safe way.
Moderators must not use their role to steer the union's political content. Moderating a forum is not the same as deciding which demands members may discuss. A moderator may remove a threat or a false claim, but not a factual post merely because it criticises the founder, the board or the organisation's current line.
Members must be able, through the union's democratic rules, to choose new representatives and replace founders, board members or moderators who have misused their roles.
The platform should support the union, not lock it in
The consumer union is an independent organisation. The platform provides tools for membership, forums, votes, meetings, documents and joint actions, but the union does not need to carry out all its activities here. Members can meet physically, use other communication channels and develop their own working methods.
A consumer union should be able to leave the platform without losing its organisation. It should be possible to export the membership register, statutes, decisions, documents and forum content in a usable format. The export must at the same time respect members' rights and the choices they have made about their personal data. The union can therefore take its organisational information with it, while individual members' sensitive data must still be handled according to the rules that protect them.
The platform must not hold the union hostage by making member lists or shared material technically impossible to move. The purpose is to help organisations emerge and function, not to make them dependent on a particular company or technical system.
Make participation possible at different levels
Not all members will have the same time or desire to be active. A consumer union should therefore make room for both passive and active membership.
A more passive member can follow summaries, answer surveys and vote on larger issues. A member who wants to contribute more can take a single task, attend a meeting or help with an investigation. The most active can work in groups, moderate forums, negotiate or stand for the board.
The important thing is that passive members still have real membership rights. They should not be treated as an audience for the active members. At the same time, the union needs to make it easy to take a first step into the work. A clear and limited task is often easier to say yes to than a general call to "get more involved".
Show what needs to be done
Engagement becomes easier when members can see what the organisation is working on and where their help is needed. Tasks should therefore be concrete.
- compile ten customers' experiences
- compare the company's terms with two competitors'
- draft a question to the company
- read through and comment on a demand
- help plan the next membership meeting
- summarise the company's response
- investigate which authority is responsible for the issue
Each task should have a clear purpose, a reasonable scope and a person who can answer questions. When the task is completed, the member should be able to see how the work is used.
Give members feedback
People easily lose motivation if they leave suggestions or do tasks without knowing what happens next. The consumer union should therefore show which issues are being handled, which decisions have been made and what results the work has led to.
Even small progress can be reported: that the company has responded, that a problem has been investigated, that more customers have verified the same experience, or that a demand has become clearer. It is not about portraying every activity as a victory, but about members being able to follow the work.
Make the union useful between campaigns
A consumer union should not only become active when a conflict or boycott has already started. It can be useful to members in their ordinary contacts with the company.
- collect information about how customer service handles different problems
- help members understand contracts and terms
- collect recurring faults with a product or service
- produce guidance for complaints and claims
- notice when different customers get different answers
- help a member formulate a clear case
- compile many similar problems and raise them jointly with the company
- follow whether the company actually implements promised improvements
A single customer may find it hard to tell whether they have experienced an exception or a recurring problem. When members share their experiences, it becomes easier to see patterns and to distinguish individual mistakes from systematic shortcomings.
Create solidarity between members
The consumer union can also be a place where members help each other. One person may understand the company's technical systems, another knows consumer law and a third can explain complicated terms in simple language.
- understand messages from customer service
- document a problem properly
- find the right contact channel
- prepare for a difficult conversation
- draw attention to accessibility issues
- understand how a change affects different groups of customers
- follow up with people who might otherwise give up on their case
- share knowledge about better alternatives
Solidarity does not mean that all members must support every complaint. It means that people help each other to be heard, get accurate information and meet the company from a less exposed position.
The consumer union must not use solidarity to create false complaints or let people who are not affected overload customer service. The help should strengthen real cases, not fabricate new ones.
Build better deliberation
Deliberation means that members do not just vote, but also have the opportunity to investigate the issue, listen to different arguments and consider the consequences before a decision is made.
- what has happened
- what is documented and what is still uncertain
- what demands have been proposed
- what options for action exist
- the most important arguments for and against the options
- which groups may be affected
- what risks and costs the decision entails
- what the company has responded
Members who do not share the majority line should be able to present their arguments without being treated as disloyal. An objection can show that a demand is poorly formulated, that the evidence is weak or that a proposed action has consequences that others have not considered.
For major decisions it can be helpful to separate discussion from voting. If members first have time to read the background material, ask questions and propose amendments, the vote will be more considered.
Meetings should be led so that not only the most confident or loudest participants dominate the conversation. The chair can distribute speaking time, ask for objections, summarise what the group actually agrees on and check that a proposal is understandable before it goes to a decision.
Build learning into the work
Running a consumer union requires skills that many have not had the opportunity to develop. It can involve reviewing information, holding meetings, formulating demands, understanding power, negotiating and handling disagreements.
The platform offers courses in various areas that the union's members can use. A consumer union can recommend a course ahead of a particular task or let a working group go through a section together. This can be relevant ahead of a negotiation, a member survey or a decision on a joint exit.
Learning should be linked to real work. A member can first receive a short introduction and then apply the knowledge in a concrete task. In this way the union develops both its own capacity and members' ability to participate in other democratic contexts.
See the work as a civic activity
The consumer union should not build its whole identity around the complaining customer. Complaints can be justified and important, but if the organisation only gathers dissatisfaction there is a risk that members begin to see themselves primarily as victims of the company.
Instead, the work can be seen as part of a civic responsibility. Members use their experiences as customers to try to make companies, markets and societies better. This means criticising what works poorly, but also formulating possible improvements, noticing when a company does something well and being prepared to reconsider one's criticism when circumstances change.
- How does this work for other customers?
- Which groups are hardest hit?
- What change would improve the business?
- What can we do together?
The positive element lies not in avoiding criticism. It lies in criticism having a purpose: to achieve a better order and build up consumers' ability to take part in it.
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