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AI fluency for union staff: Industrial Officers
Image: Ada Jušić & Eleonora Lima (KCL) / /
A 10-week course to build your confidence and skills in using AI for casework and member representation
Many industrial officers are already experimenting with AI tools. But there's a gap between occasional use and applying AI systematically to improve your casework, research and member support.
This course bridges that gap. You'll move from tentative experimentation to confident, effective use of AI across your industrial role – from drafting grievance letters and tribunal submissions to researching precedents and preparing for collective bargaining.
What you’ll learn
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Streamline your casework: Develop efficient approaches to grievance handling, research and documentation with AI assistance, saving time while improving quality
Apply AI appropriately: Determine when and how to use AI tools effectively in your industrial relations workflow while maintaining confidentiality and accuracy
Build systematic approaches: Design workflows that integrate AI into your team's processes with appropriate quality controls and member data protection
Evaluate AI outputs: Critically assess AI-generated content for legal accuracy, relevance and alignment with your advocacy goals
Navigate changing workplace dynamics: Develop strategies for a future where both industrial officers and members increasingly encounter AI in workplace disputes and representation
Course content
Module 1: The promise, peril and reality of generative AI for union industrial officers
We'll explore why AI represents both an opportunity and challenge for union industrial officers. Through practical examples, you'll learn how to navigate the balance between AI's benefits and its risks for you and your union.
Module 2: Working with generalist AI assistants: prompting and collaboration
Learn effective techniques for getting high-quality, relevant outputs from AI tools like Microsoft Co-Pilot or Google Gemini specifically for industrial relations tasks, from case preparation to member advice, whilst protecting confidential information.
Module 3: Specialising and automating generative AI tools
Discover how to move beyond generic tools to use and create specialist AI systems tailored to your tasks and your union's specific industrial relations needs. Apply AI to:
Grievance letters, tribunal submissions and case summaries
Legal research and precedent analysis
Contract analysis and collective bargaining preparation
Meeting notes and member advice communications
Employment law briefings and training materials
Module 4: Expanding AI use to your teams and union / federation
Explore what is needed to move from individual AI experimentation to team-wide implementation and how to be part of guiding your union through the change AI brings.
Module 5: The future and your role
Examine how AI will reshape industrial officer roles and member expectations, and how it may impact the future role and shape of unions.
Fully online course.
5 modules over 10 weeks.
2-3 hours per module.
1-2 hours per week.
Live calls every 2 weeks.
Share experiences and discuss with union peers.
Your trainer: Nick Scott
Nick leads the Centre for Responsible Union AI and has trained 500+ union staff in AI across the world.
New cohort every month.
Next cohort starts 21 January 2026
February 2026 cohort starts 25 February
Cost: £200 per person
50% if you work in a Unions 21 supporting union or have attended a previous AI fundamentals course.
What previous participants have said
“I can't recommend [the course] highly enough... it's changed my daily working, AI is helping me in a way that's saving me time. So I've got a better work-life balance and the content that we're producing is better.”
Andrew Khan-Gordon, ITUC Communications Officer (for our communications course)
"It was very, very good and I can appreciate how much time went into the course planning and design."
An industrial officer at a UK union
"I found it difficult to be creative with prompts at first, but by the end I could see how to make AI genuinely useful for my casework."
A legal officer at an international federation
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for union staff working in industrial relations, legal, casework, negotiations, or member representation.
Whether you're new to AI or already experimenting, the course meets you where you are. Foundational content ensures everyone has solid grounding, while industrial-specific modules and peer learning push your practice further.
Why take this course?
Tailored for union officers
No translating from generic corporate examples. Every exercise and use case is built for union staff and their realities - in industrial work and beyond.
Practical and hands-on
Understand prompts and approaches you can use right away. This isn't just theory – it's about gaining key skills making your work easier and better.
Learning at your own pace
Fit learning around your work, not the other way around. No need to block out full days or travel. Complete modules as you can in our online learning platform.
Connect with your peers
You're not figuring this out alone. Connect with with colleagues in union roles who are navigating the same challenges in the live online sessions.
Keep growing as AI evolves
When the course ends the learning doesn't. Our AI Alumni community mean you stay connected and continue developing your AI knowledge.
AI tools you’ll explore
Throughout the course, you'll get hands-on experience with a wide range of different tools.
We focus on practical application rather than comprehensive tool reviews.
You'll leave knowing which tools work best for which tasks – and how to get the most from whatever tools your union provides.
AI assistants for your work: Gemini, Co-Pilot, ChatGPT
Get the most from Microsoft Co-Pilot or Google Gemini – the AI tools officially supported by many unions – plus ChatGPT and other popular alternatives.
AI for research
Tools that summarise long documents, identify patterns across agreements and policies, and turn hours of reading into minutes.
AI for design
Create presentations and training materials without design skills. Turn rough ideas into polished assets fast.
AI for audio and video
Transcribe meetings and hearings, generate summaries, and create training content. Turn recordings into usable material fast.
AI for automation
Connect your tools and streamline repetitive tasks. Build workflows that save time every week.
