CanadianLabour.ca
Websites & Custom Software
Unionized or not, Canadians have a tireless advocate in the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)—but many of them may not know it. To expand their outreach, CLC partnered with Point Blank in 2018 to create a new organizational website that would highlight their broad progressive advocacy. Boasting a streamlined user experience and striking design, CLC’s newly revamped site fluidly caters to workers, affiliates, activists, and everyone in between.
Portfolio ViewThe Canadian Labour Congress is the largest labour organization in Canada, bringing together unions, federations of labour and community-based labour councils to represent more than 3 million workers across the country.
While the CLC represents organized labour, they regularly advocate for progressive policies for the benefit of all Canadians. With a staff that includes economists, researchers and subject matter experts, CLC produces in-depth analysis on issues such as working conditions, health and safety, wages and benefits, health care, pensions, and retirement security, then works for better regulations, programs, and government policies.
Seeking ways to increase the reach and impact of their work, the CLC engaged Point Blank to develop a new digital organizing strategy. This process led to a new focus on speaking to all Canadian workers, and engaging them in winnable CLC campaigns on the issues they care about.
Unfortunately, their website didn’t make it easy to tell the CLC’s story or connect with the broader public audience they wanted to engage. There was a lot of great content, but it was too difficult for experts and researchers to find and nearly impossible for the public to discover. The navigation was confusing, the page layouts lacked visual impact or hierarchy, and searches produced inaccurate and outdated results.
Point Blank’s redesign of the CLC website began with reorganizing their content with Canadian workers top of mind. This allowed us to create a streamlined site structure, and simple, compelling navigation. In particular, the “What We Care About” section allows visitors to find common cause with CLC, viewing up to date content through the lens of key issues such as Gender Equality, Social Justice & Democracy, and immediately take action on a related petition or campaign.
The “Take Action” section of the website makes it easy for CLC to create these timely campaigns, simply by populating and publishing new pages. Flexible campaign templates (including petition and event tools) maintain consistent navigation elements across the entire website, while allowing customized colour palettes and graphics to convey a unique look and feel for each campaign.
Canadian workers may be the focus, but CLC’s other audiences are not forgotten. The site provides multiple tools and points of entry tailored to the needs of each audience. Researchers can bypass the magazine style homepage and visit the “Publication” section where it’s easy to search and filter documents from across the site to quickly find what they need. A dedicated media section provides contacts and resources and makes it easy to find the latest media releases, advisories, op-eds, and submissions from the CLC.
CLC’s most dedicated audience of affiliates and activists also benefits from the clear navigation and focus on issues and action designed to appeal to workers at large. For this audience, the new site is a clear reflection of their own values and hard work. It’s now easier for these partners to amplify CLC’s campaigns, events, and content by sharing them with their own networks and supporters. The site also makes it easier for this group to find the support and resources they need including labour education classes and workshops.
