Safe collective action for Burkina media workers
Media workers at Burkina Info have endured unresolved poor social/professional conditions and exploitation by operator ANSAX for over 6 months, forcing them to publicly protest.
UniteShift gives employees at the same TV station a secure, anonymous space to form groups, run polls, draft joint petitions, and coordinate actions without exposing identities. It directly addresses the power imbalance that allowed ANSAX to ignore Burkina Info workers for over six months by turning individual frustration into organized, protected collective power.
Media employees (journalists, technicians, support staff) working at private TV stations in Burkina Faso, especially the 30-person team at Burkina Info/ANSAX
Station-isolated, end-to-end encrypted groups with advanced anonymity (no phone numbers required to join) and built-in templates proven effective in West African labor disputes.
empowering
Join your station's encrypted group without revealing identity
Collaborative petition creation with digital signatures (anonymous)
Anonymous votes on demands and protest actions
Secure messaging within station groups
Shared calendar for coordinated days off, protests, or negotiations
Visual progress board showing management responses
Curated templates and guides for collective bargaining
Anonymized view of issues affecting multiple stations
One-way announcements to all verified station members
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| anonymous_id | text | No |
| station | text | No |
| role_category | text | Yes |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| station_name | text | No |
| invite_code | text | No |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| group_id | uuid | No |
| title | text | No |
| content | text | No |
| status | text | No |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| group_id | uuid | No |
| question | text | No |
| options | text | No |
| closed | bool | No |
/api/groups/joinJoin station group anonymously
/api/petitionsCreate new collective petition
/api/pollsCreate and vote on polls
/api/chat/messagesFetch encrypted group messages
/api/actions/calendarAdd coordinated action to shared calendar
Cannot create petitions or vote
None
Up to 100 members
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 180 | 14% | $630 | $7,560 |
| Month 6 | 950 | 21% | $4,987 | $59,850 |
The secure platform helping Burkina media workers organize collectively without fear of retaliation.
Offer the protesting Burkina Info team a dedicated private group and free Union tier for one year to help them formalize demands. Present the tool at the next meeting of the Burkina Journalists Association. Seed groups at two other major Ouagadougou private TV stations through trusted internal contacts.
Excellent team chat
No anonymity, no labor-specific tools, easily monitored by employers
Designed from the ground up for high-risk anonymous collective action
Network effects within each station — the more workers join, the more powerful the group becomes. Accumulated successful petition templates and case outcomes create a defensible data asset.
The prolonged Burkina Info protest has proven traditional methods are failing. Workers are actively seeking better tools. Rising digital literacy and cheap mobile internet have created the perfect conditions for a mobile collective-action platform.
Government or operator crackdown on organizing tool
Decentralized architecture, strong encryption, and legal review by local labor lawyers
Building trustworthy anonymity at solo-dev scale
Use audited encryption libraries and public security audit before launch
Success: ≥65% of respondents say they would join an anonymous organizing tool
Success: ≥70% group participation rate and successful test petition
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