THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

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• THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT
• AND
• THE INTERNET
• Naci GÜNDOGAN
• Anadolu University
• 66th Midwest Political Science
• Association Conference
• Chicago, April 03-06, 2008

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Trade union membership in some developed
countries
Country 1980 1990 1995 2002
Germany 34.9 31.2 29.2 23.2
Austria 58.4 46.9 40.7 35.4
France 17.1 10.1 9.8 9.7
UK 55.1 39.3 34.1 30.4
Italy 54.5 38.8 38.1 34.0
USA - 16.1 14.3 12.8
Finland 69.4 72.2 78.0 71.2
Sweden 78.2 80.0 83.1 78.0
Japan - 25.4 24.0 20.3
Source Waddington (2005) Trade Union Membership
in Europe, ETUI-REHS, Brussels.
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• Why has union density declined?
• The main reasons
• a dramatic fall in the number of jobs in
  manufacturing industries,
• a fall in traditional full time employment and an
  increase in part time and temporary workers,

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• an increase in the proportion of the workforce
  employed by small companies,
• larger numbers of unemployed people.

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• How can be reversed union decline?
• Information and communication technologies (ICTs)
  in particular the internet have been presented as
  one solution.
• The Internet is
• relatively cheap,
• very fast,
• truly global,
• available all the time,
• inter-active,
• the hyperlink

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• The internet began as a tool for the military and
  academics in the 1960s.
• In the early 90s, web-browsers were developed,
  and the technology gradually permeated the
  mainstream, with email becoming a popular means
  of communication.

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The Internet and Trade Unions - History and
Pioneers

• The first published suggestion that trade
  unionists might be able to use networked
  computers for such tasks as online distance
  learning was made in 1972 by Charles "Chip"
  Levinson, in his book International Trade
  Unionism.
• One of the premier networks began in 1986 in
  Canada, SOLINET, (Solidarity Computer
  Conferencing Network) was created by Marc
  Belanger.

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• In 1991, LaborNet was founded to build a
  democratic communication network for the labor
  movement. It is an independent network that seeks
  to build up labor communication for all working
  people. LaborNets are now established in the
  United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Korea, Turkey,
  Japan.
• Unison was the first union in the world to set up
  a web site (1993) and became the first union to
  set up a free Internet service for its members
  through Poptel.

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• LaborStart has a global network of volunteer
  correspondents updating headlines throughout the
  day.
• In 2004, the global union federation, UNI-Union
  International Network, launched a web-based help
  desk to assist union web workers in running or
  improving their web sites.
• Today, worldwide, the number of union web sites
  has risen rapidly, as many developing country
  unions have gone on-line, and as the Global Union
  Federations and International Confederation of
  Free Trade Unions have made the Internet integral
  to their operations.

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• There is no one site which gives a listing of all
  world trade union web sites because there is no
  spesific union domain name to facilitate the easy
  identification of union websites.
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
  Numbers (ICANN), the private group that
  determines domain names, rejected the request of
  the International Confederation of Free Trade
  Unions (ICFTU) to create a dot-union name.
  Whereas union domain name will broden the scope
  of issues brought to the emerging internet
  community.

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• The most recent attempt at a global inventory of
  union webpages was undertaken by the London
  School of Economics, in 2001. This survey claimed
  to find a total of about 2,700 websites. The
  authors of this survey admit that they may have
  missed some sites, particularly those not using
  the English language.
• In Europe, figures for the number of union
  websites included the UK in first place (373),
  France in second place (181) and Germany third
  (59).

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What is the Impact of the Internet on Trade Union
Movement?

• Optimistic view
• ICTs offer unions new ways of mobilising and
  engaging with members and potential members, and
  that they create opportunities for strengthening
  the union movement on an international scale
  (E.Lee, R. Darlington, W. J. Diamond, R.
  Freeman).

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• According to Eric Lee the internet would even
  allow the trade union movement to renew itself
  and fill key gaps in its national and
  international systems of communication, leading
  to a broader and more meaningful dialogue within
  labour and beyond it.
• Diamond and Freeman argue that the internet
  offers unions great opportunities to improve
  services and attract members because it bridges
  gap between an increasingly heterogeneous and
  individualistic workforce and the collective
  activity and solidarity that lies at the heart of
  trade unionism.

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• Pessimistic view
• Increasing the use of the internet will
  further undermine the role of traditional
  representative organisations. The internet will
  render superfluous intermediate organizations
  since it can link individuals directly to firms
  and governments (Grossman, Corrado, Firestone,
  Negroponte, Castells).
• According to this view, the big losers from the
  web are the traditional institutions that have
  served as the main intermediaries between
  government and its citizens - the political
  parties, trade unions, civic associations.

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• How is the internet changing unions?
• Freeman the internet is changing unions from
  institution of the WEBBS to institution of the
  WEB.
• How can the trade union movement utilize from the
  internet?
• Organizing workers
• In particular, trade unions have continued to
  find difficulty in organising growth areas of the
  labour market, especially amongst women and
  non-standard employees. Women and young workers
  are a particularly important target group because
  of their increased share of these employment
  growth areas.

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• Traditional union activities such as meetings,
  continue to be held at times and in locations,
  which make it extremely difficult for women or
  those working non-standard hours to attend.
  E-forms could better enable increased
  participation and activism among women and
  non-standard employees.

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Internal and external communication

• Internal communications can be improved through
  e-mail and intranets to allow union officials and
  staff to keep in touch and exchange information
  more easily.
• External communication with members is enhanced
  by web sites and e-mails that allow information
  to be delivered in a timely and less costly
  manner than the traditional newsletter and
  mail-out, and also allow members to communicate
  more easily with officials.

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• Unlike traditional forms of communication that
  focus on one-to-one communication or one-to-many
  communication flows, internet tools, such as
  discussion boards, chat rooms and discussion
  lists, allow many-to-many communications and
  allow those who are time poor or geographically
  dispersed to participate.

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Services to members

• The internet allows unions to meet the demand for
  better services to members. It can do this in
  three ways
• by improving the knowledge with which local
  representatives serve members
• by providing general expert systems advice to
  workers
• by providing individualized services to members
  based on their personal charasteristics.

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• Box 1- UNISON MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
• UNISONFree.net and UNISONplus.net
• These services were being operated by a company
  called Real Poptel.
• Online Legal Advice UNISON provides expert legal
  advice and services, including free assistance
  with problems at work and an extended package of
  legal services for members and their families.
• Learning and Organising Services (LAOS) offers a
  wide range of learning opportunities, which range
  from basic skills through to professional level
  qualifications for UNISON activists and members.
• Source http//www.unison.org.uk/benefits/index.as
  p

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• Box 2- WorkSMART
• WorkSMART, from the TUC, is here to help today's
  working people get the best out of the world of
  work.
• your rights at work employment law explained
• your health at work keeping well in the
  workplace
• your money simple advice on your pay, taxes, and
  pension options
• union finder help in choosing a union
• email newsletter key and quirky stories from the
  world of work
• Source www.worksmart.org.uk

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Source http//union.org.nz
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Education and training

• The Internet gives unions a low cost tool for
  informing workers in any locality about workplace
  conditions and rights and for advising them how
  to deal with workplace problems. It generates new
  opportunities with regard to education and
  training. Today, many unions provide training
  courses via the internet for its members and
  union representatives.

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Online learning Online courses include For union
reps Countering the Far Right Disability
Champions_at_Work Finding a work Life balance
Health and Safety Introduction to Occupational
Pensions Organise! A Voice In Every
Workplace Union Learning Representatives Union
Representatives Stage 1 Tackling Racism TUC
Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety For
union professional UK Unions and the European
Union Source www.unionlearn.org.uk
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Collective bargaining process

• It is important to improve information flows, and
  recognise the importance of information as a
  weapon in collective bargaining. The web can be a
  crucial source for bargaining and company data.
  The internet can be used by union researchers to
  collate relevant information for the professional
  trade union negotiators.

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• Union members can be easily informed in every
  stage of bargaining process and electronic
  balloting of members on agreements and proposals.
  The internet provides a potentially very powerful
  way of reaching members during the collective
  bargaining process, to inform them of
  developments and to elicit their views and also
  potentially empowers their members to take a much
  more direct role during negotiations.

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International labor solidarity

• Eric Lee the Internet will create a more global
  trade union movement by providing information on
  labour issues around the world.
• The internet provides many opportunities for
  enhanced forms of solidarity and communication at
  every level from the local to the global.
• Today unions are increasingly using the web as a
  campaigning tool. They are organizing cyber
  picketing by flooding a companys e-mail system
  with protest messages.

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• Act NOW!
• If your union needs our help creating an online
  campaign, please fill in this form and we'll get
  back to you. Thanks.
• Russia No to impunity for attackers of
  dockworkers' leader
• Iran Attempted assassination of labour activist
• Tell Tommy Hilfiger, Guess and Dickies Stop the
  firings of Mexican jean workers support their
  right to a union of their choice
• UK Support the Fremantle Care Workers
• Australia Support Cochlear workers
• Turkey Intimidation and Mass Firings at Yörsan
  Dairy Company
• Source http//labourstart.org

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Transparency and union democracy

• The Internet democratizes unions, decentralizes
  them, makes them more transparent and open,
  weakens entrenched bureaucracies and provides new
  tools for rank and file activists.
• It is an inexpensive way for individuals to
  participate in decisions. Discussion forums,
  chatrooms and list servers create virtual
  communities that can spontaneously develop new
  thinking on issues as well as share information
  outside official settings.

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• The use of the internet by trade unions increases
  the transparency of the behaviour of union
  officials to the union membership and enables an
  independent assessment of performance of
  officials.
• Hogan argued that on-line unionism represents a
  challenge to the iron law of oligarchy.

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The transformation of Unions in the Internet Era
Pre-internet activities of unions Additional activities after internet
Primary business Collective bargaining Individual representation and advice
Delivery services Workplaces Services delivered by reps/leaders Outcomes depend on collective bargaining with employer Web Digital services Services provided directly to workers
Method of dispute Strikes Web communication Cyber-picketing
Pre-internet membership Post-internet membership
Locale Workplace Differentiated membership members, subscribers, visitors to website virtual presence at workplaces
Internal democracy Elected leaders and bureaucracy Decentralized internet plebiscites Activists operate independently
SourceDiamond-Freeman (2002).
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Conclusion

• The Trade Union Movement is undergoing a process
  of change, following a 30-year long trend of
  decline in membership, recognition and public
  support. The consideration of the internet is
  vital to this process. Neverthless, it does not
  have to be exaggerated the role of the internet
  on the future of trade union movement.

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• In this paper, we have not argued that the
  internet represents the panacea to cure all union
  ills. It cannot be a substitute for traditional
  face-to-face methods of organising, meeting and
  motivating union members. So it has to be
  understood as a new tool, and no more than that,
  in labour's toolbox.

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• We have argued that innovative internet
  activities can create a new excitement and
  ferment in the trade union movement.
• And creative usage of the internet can develop
  proactive strategies to counter the forces of
  membership decline, through the creation of new
  channels of communication and new opportunities
  to participate.

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• Many thanks for your attention