Anne-marie Greene (
Gill Kirton (
Paper presented at the International Industrial Relations Association
Conference,
There is
substantial contemporary criticism of the unrepresentative nature of trade
union hierarchies in
If as
membership data suggest the profile of the paradigmatic trade union member is
altering (Howell, 1996), then it is important for unions to consider ways in
which the paradigmatic activist can come to reflect this shift. This paper argues that activism within the new era of ICTs fosters the possibilities of reconfiguring what it
means to be an activist, the concerns and agendas of activism, and the spatial
locations in which activism takes place. In other words ICTs
offer the potential for unions to become for inclusive of under-represented
groups and hence more democratic.
The paper begins by presenting conventional constructions of trade union democracy. We argue that traditional conceptions of trade union democracy require physical presence at meetings at times and in spaces incompatible with caring responsibilities and atypical hours of work. This restricts the participation of women and other ‘atypical’ workers in trade unions. We then discuss the potentialities for information and communication technologies (ICTs) to reconstruct trade union activism. The paper explores the complexities of electronic forms of union activism in practice, indicating that while some positive features are experienced, there are also a range of obstacles, barriers and possible negative consequences.
Space constraints do not permit a thorough examination of the concept of trade union democracy here, thus the following discussion takes a grassroots (Morris and Fosh, 2000) or participatory (Terry, 1996) model as the widely held ideal. From this the system of shop stewards lies at the heart of the traditional democratic principle of unionism. It is useful here to revisit Hyman's (1971) pamphlet Marxism and the Sociology of Trade Unionism, where the writings of key social theorists including Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and Michels are compared and contrasted. The challenge to the 'iron law of oligarchy' (Michels, 1915), from the 'iron law of democracy' (Gouldner, 1964), is seen to reside in the shop stewards and in workplace trade unionism: 'the experience of membership involvement in shop floor trade unionism' (Hyman, 1971: 32). The heart of trade union democratic processes therefore is to be found at the workplace level.
More generally, union democracy can be defined as ‘the opportunities union members have to influence the union decisions that potentially affect them (Nicholson et al, 1981:9). Thus, activism and participation are seen as essential to democracy, with the emphasis placed on the processes rather than the institutions of democracy. In particular, membership meetings are seen as an important means of giving members the opportunity to influence the union’s decision-making (Klandermans, 1992). Indeed, the membership meeting tends to be considered as the cornerstone of union democracy. The problem is that attendance at membership meetings is notoriously low, such that some union branches now hold no or infrequent meetings involving members, confining meeting attendance instead to the branch committee. This effectively undermines democracy in trade unions because non-attenders are not evenly distributed through all social groups (Phillips, 1991). Rather, lower attendance rates are associated with women, part-time and other ‘atypical’ workers.
Nevertheless there are broader conceptions of trade union activism advanced. For example, Fosh (1993) presents participation in union activities as multi-dimensional; involving anything from information-seeking to full involvement at decision-making meetings. From this perspective, examples of activism could include disseminating information, recruiting new members, union education courses, attendance at meetings, voting and reading union newsletters. Viewed in this way, it is not the case that all those who do not hold positions are uninterested in the union or unreceptive to mobilisation efforts. However, the challenge for unions in a context of generally low levels of membership meeting attendance is to communicate efficiently and effectively with the activists and members who do not hold office and to seek channels for increasing their levels of participation.
Of course, it is possible to argue that within formally democratic unions all members already have equal opportunity to participate in the structures of decision-making, so why is it necessary to create alternative channels for participation? As Young (2000) indicates, despite being formally included some people find that their views are not listened to or taken seriously. In the trade union context certain social groups including women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and lesbians and gay men have complained of internal exclusion (see for example Kirton and Healy, 1999, Colgan, 1999, Humphrey, 2000). The processes of exclusion are often enacted by majority groups by virtue of their greater knowledge of union jargon, procedures and rule books. Participants of meetings are often intimidated into accepting the position of the most vocal (Dorgan and Grieco, 1993). In other words, participatory democracy centred on the meeting generally favours those members who are most confident to articulate their views (Phillips, 1991).
To redress this situation would require a more radical democracy. In this regard most large British unions have developed a raft of equality structures, include separate organising, designed to include previously excluded groups (Kirton and Greene, 2002). Although these structures are undoubtedly a major advance, they are often workplace-based and usually involve attendance at meetings. This still fails to recognise that the continued emphasis on physical attendance militates against the participation of atypical workers. The democracy debate intersects with the discussion of the potentialities of the ICTs insofar as they can be used to influence union decision-making. This could occur directly (e.g. through the vehicle of virtual meetings, online membership consultation exercises) or indirectly (for example through dissemination of information necessary to challenge the leadership, or via web-based campaigns) some examples of which are discussed later. Participation via the Internet could be one of the ways of breaking down the time and space barriers experienced by some under-represented groups. Further, status barriers might be overcome because of the disembodied anonymity of the technology; in other words its capacity to de-gender or de-racialise the participants (Johnson, 2001).
Union leaders, whether local or national, may of course have no desire to increase member activism. Instead they may wish to control the opportunities for participation in the interests of oligarchic control (Flood et al, 1996). As some prominent dissident web sites demonstrate however, control is much harder to achieve once activists begin to use the Internet to campaign and disseminate information (Hogan and Greene, 2002, Diamond and Freeman, 2002). Thus, whether ICTs will push forward the union democracy project is likely to remain a controversial question. However, even a cynic could argue that pursuing democracy by any available means is always a worthwhile endeavour, even if it is ‘a treasure which no one will ever discover by deliberate search’ (Michels, 1915: 368).
There has been some debate about the positive potential offered by the use of ICTs in a variety of areas of trade union activity (Greene et al, 2001; Diamond and Freeman, 2002, Lee, 1997). These media could foster greater equalities of knowledge and more distributed means of communication and participation, while also leading to a possible reconfiguration of the time-space-place dimensions of communicative practice (Kirton and Greene, 2002).
There is also a large literature emerging since the early 1990s, which examines the ways in which ICTs are both cultural and gendered. There is consideration of how writing, communication patterns and possibly forms of thought are reshaped, and therefore whether the possibilities of ICTs may provide support for renegotiating the gender contract (Walch, 1999: 140). Virtual interaction reduces the focus on the female body as the defining characteristic of women, and it also challenges the public/private divide by providing opportunities for participation in public life from within domestic spaces.
Initial
research in the
However, while the use of ICTs has been seen as a helpful way of getting younger workers involved in trade unions (Fiorito, 2001) as yet, the possibilities of ICTs for increasing the participation of other ‘atypical’ activists within unions has not been significantly addressed. We argue that ICTs offer opportunities to overcome two major obstacles to activism: time and space constraints. Further, ICTs have the capability to enhance communication between members and offer safe spaces for enhancing interactive skills.
If a
broader conception of union activism is adopted and seen as legitimate, then
stewards will be able to use e-mail and other forms of Internet communication
to improve participation among members, who are unable to make time for
meetings. For example, care responsibilities are a major obstacle to women’s
participation in trade union meetings. Mothers of dependent children
especially, typically construct their lives to juggle work and family roles and
they are notoriously time-poor. Using the Internet, activism could take place
in different temporal and spatial contexts – after working hours in the home
for example. It is clear that pulls of work, family
and leisure as competing forces for attention to trade union activities are
exacerbated for ‘atypical’ workers. When the connections between work
and home are broken organisation and mobilisation at the rank and file level is
weakened because members cannot get together without domestic sacrifice. Once
the worker is isolated, negotiation and discussion space is closed (Greene et
al, 2001). In contrast, electronic forms have the
potential to reintegrate work and home demands. Twenty
four hour access to the Internet site could better enable members who are 'time
poor', or others who cannot be physically present at conventional union
activities to rapidly view ‘recruitment web pages’, and enter email campaigns
and participate in consultative exercises. One
example of the realisation of this potential is the campaigning organisation
‘Friends of the Earth’ (FoE), where email interaction
cut down considerably the number of face to face meetings activists required,
while retaining quality of discussion (Washbourne
1999).
In lower income areas, time poverty is compounded by the
poor quality of public transport. Turner et al (2000:69) consider the
facilitation of women into the labour market.
One of the significant points is that policy to provide child-care and
training, while crucial, will not necessarily free up carers if they do not
have the transport facilities with appropriate service schedules. ICTs can be seen as the key to the alleviation of women's
lesser access to private transport by allowing them to 'substitute tele-journeys for real journeys'
(Turner et al, 2000: 72). Similar debates are salient to a discussion of union
activism. Indeed, this was commented
upon by a participant of a TUC online women's course who lived in a remote part
of
The Internet extends opportunities for members not simply to be in touch with officials, but also with each other. The ability of electronic communication to enable activists to remain in frequent and constant contact with each other has been commented on elsewhere with regard to improved service to members (Diamond and Freeman, 2002: 581) and within industrial action situations (Pliskin et al, 1997).
In addition, networks of different interest groups, based for example around occupational or demographic characteristics, can be formed; or union dissidents can utilise the web to communicate directly with members. Listening and contributing to discussions is an important way in which an individual’s trade union consciousness is built and developed. As Kelly and Kelly (1994) suggest, the individual’s level of identification with the union is of paramount importance in predicting activism – the level of identification though is not static, it can be moulded and remoulded through the social processes of interaction with others that occur within union contexts. Interactive forms of communication via the Internet can be used to replace this function of the physical meeting.For example the web is an efficient and effective means of disseminating campaigning and educational materials. Reading carefully selected materials, for example showing wage differentials between occupational groups, could heighten members’ sense of ‘collective relative deprivation’ (Kelly and Kelly, 1994) and therewith their propensity for activism. This could be an especially effective approach with regard to ‘selective activists’ (Nicholson et al, 1981) – members who will become involved only on issues perceived as particularly salient – by enabling union officials to reach this group of latent activists who are less likely to attend meetings.
Byremoving collective activities from the traditional physical meeting place, a safer space within which less experienced or new activists can deploy and develop communicative skills is provided. In the traditional meeting place the pressures of time mean that even the most enlightened union, committed to building confidence and giving a voice to all members, is unable to realise the aim of broader participation. This is compounded by the tendencies towards ‘the bureaucracy of dependency’ (Hyman, 1989: 246), as manifest in the differential distribution of expertise and experience within the organisation. Add to this the problems associated with white, male, heterosexual, non-disabled domination, and the physical meeting place represents an unlikely arena in which a plethora of voices might be heard. In contrast, meeting in virtual time and space does have the advantage that it can allow for communicative skills to be developed and confidence to be built. This is because intervention can be rehearsed in safe spaces and then delivered when the participant is confident (Greene at al, 2001). The dynamic of skill acquisition is also important. In allowing skill development to take place by small increments- i.e. online questions, statements, calls for information etc-the acceleration of information transfers become part of the up-skilling process for members and activists. This has significant consequences for facilitating the increased participation of ordinary members and enhancing activism.
In
addition, within virtual activist spaces, information and decision making
resources are taken out of the male dominated domain, to be potentially shared
by many more people than within conventional modes. The
temporal and spatial proximity of union members to local, regional, national
and international online trade union resources,
broadens access beyond those in the hierarchy (Hogan and Greene, 2002). ‘Atypical’ activists therefore might have
more opportunities to become involved in decision making and consultation
processes. Indeed, Washbourne's (1999) research finds
that FoE activists using the Internet engaged much
more in collaborative writing, and sharing of local expertise, which acted as
an ‘important elaboration of
non-oligarchic relations’ (1999:135).
The foregoing discussion has indicated a number of areas where the uses of ICTs have the potential to enable increased activism by ‘atypical’ trade union members. However it is clear that there are also a number of obstacles and barriers to the use of electronic forms, which are now discussed.
With any
discussion of the potential of ICTs, the issue of
access and skills needs to be dealt with. Certainly, a new era of electronic
union activism presupposes access to the technology by the majority of members.
In practice, the use of new technology has been somewhat limited to those
unions organising in the computer literate, white collar sectors, however
Internet usage is expanding for all unions (Diamond and Freeman, 2002). Indeed
there has been a dramatic increase in overall Internet usage in the
Gendered levels of Internet access also have another dimension, which represents a barrier to the potential of electronic activism to overcome barriers for women. One often gets the impression that cyberspace exists as a ‘virtual’ paradise, free from gender relations and the burdens, ties and demands of everyday domestic life. However, in reality, it is quite clear that electronic activism has to be fitted around daily routines within a context of gender relations, and it therefore has its own time and space demands. For example, to participate via the Internet one still has to find the space and time, although there is potentially more flexibility about this. The gendered nature of domestic roles and relationships means that women have to compete (often unsuccessfully) with their male family members for computer access. The examples discussed later highlight the difficulties of finding time to participate in electronic forms of activism. We make a distinction between 'time off' and 'time out' which is useful here (Kirton and Greene, 2002). Online forms encourage 'time out' from everyday commitments, with the promise that you can arrange online activism in small convenient time segments, rather than the extended blocks of ‘time off’ which are required for conventional activism. However in practice negotiating 'time out' may also be problematic.
As suggested earlier, if constructing and promoting forms of electronic activism are to be seen as worthwhile endeavours, it will first be necessary for unions to develop new ways of thinking about activists and activism. This will involve moving away from the mind-set that assumes that those who do not turn up for meetings are apathetic, unconcerned passive union members, who cannot be mobilised into any form of action or activism. Ingrained attitudes about what counts as legitimate trade union activism may potentially engender resistance to electronic forms and a devaluing of them.
There is still a strong preference for face-to-face participation within British unions, matching wider societal trends (Which? 2000). We point out later, how there are some concerns from activists that electronic activism could become a secondary form, suited only to those who cannot participate in the traditional domains. In this case it is likely to take on a second class status, whilst the ‘real’ trade union work continues to take place in physical meeting spaces.
These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that online interaction has some clear disadvantages, especially if compared directly to conventional modes, rather than assessing its benefits in its own terms. The lack of face-to-face interaction can be problematic, especially for types of union activism requiring discussion and interaction. While in theory, discussion boards, chat rooms and so on, can stand as substitutes, Moore (1991 cited in Marks, 1997: 269) finds the lack of face-to-face interaction to be a common problem associated with online modes, where participants have to deal with 'transactional distance'- a psychological space where potential misunderstandings can arise. Also, as we discuss later online communication can be stilted and laborious, contradicting the view that it can overcome time poverty. For example, chat room conversations can suffer from time-lag problems and the written form demands much more time in terms of explaining and making oneself clear than does oral communication (Rowley, 1999).
Finally, while ICTs offer the potential of more distributed, transparent means and substance of communication, it is also the case that there can be domination of union web sites and other online forms by the same cliques as in traditional modes. This has various implications: one that electronic modes will continue to be dominated by ‘typical’ rather than ‘atypical’ activists, two that the Internet leads to misrepresentation and legitimacy problems, and three that there are possible security problems.
Looking at email discussion groups amongst academics, Herring et al (1999) find that just like conventional public forums computer-mediated interaction is largely dominated by men. This supports other research (Herring, 1994; Truong, 1993) which finds that men and high status participants dominate and the use of adversarial and sexist language is frequent. Herring et al (1999) also look at the ways in which female participants are muted and marginalised, highlighting the continuing importance of female only spaces within electronic communication forums. In other words, face-to-face patterns may replicate themselves in cyberspace, challenging a view that the existence of cyberspace necessarily leads to a re-negotiation of the gender contract.
Many
participants at the TUC-hosted Unions and
the Internet conference in 2001 voiced concerns that a decentralised communication forum could easily become the
setting for incoherence of message. It is important to recognise that
information on the Internet can be misused and misrepresented. Some voiced the opinion that a central body was needed
which would oversee the web presence and web activities of the
Another
dimension involves problems of security, in that
We now discuss three examples of electronic trade union activism. These are located in traditional areas of activism but electronic means have been utilised, namely: trade union education, dissemination and sharing of knowledge and information, and organisation and recruitment. These examples are from an ongoing project begun in 2000 involving analysis of the first TUC online Women's Course; interviews with TUC personnel responsible for online learning; formal interviews and informal contact with co-ordinators of two e-networks; an archive of emails from one of these networks; and examples presented at the TUC/LSE Unions and the Internet Conference held in May 2001.
The TUC’s annual conference in 1999 set the TUC Education Service a ‘millennial challenge’ to reach trade union representatives who have difficulty accessing the service because of problems around release from work, family responsibilities or work patterns. In response, TUC Education Online was established towards the end of 2000. The TUC currently has online versions of a range of courses (see Kirton, 2002). Our case study of a small group of trade union women’s participation in 2000 on a TUC online women’s course (see Kirton and Greene, 2002) raises a number of issues which have salience for an evaluation of the potentialities of online courses in particular and online activism in general.
The women enrolled on the online course because of reasons common to women-only courses, namely a strong interest in women’s issues and in developing trade union women (Greene and Kirton, 2002). However, most of the group also felt that the online mode of delivery would enable them to resolve problems of ‘time poverty’ caused by heavy job demands and in one case the additional demands of motherhood, which tended to prevent them from attending residential or day release union courses. They also expected the course to provide a collective learning experience, mirroring classroom-based trade union courses. Thus there were expectations that in line with our review of potential benefits above, online forms of education would better enable activists to overcome the difficulties of time commitment of conventional courses, as well as enhancing communication between women trade union officers.
These expectations were only partially met. From the chat room discussions, there is clear evidence that the participants were able to share experiences and to discuss issues such as women’s lesser participation and under-representation. Yet while women’s issues were certainly addressed on the course, the online mode also diluted the value of the discussions for the participants. Firstly, the women were less motivated to participate in the virtual classroom activities, finding them less stimulating than their previous experiences of conventional trade union courses. They found discussions in the chat room awkward and stilted, feeling that the high trust atmosphere normally engendered on union courses did not develop. Further, the expectation that a virtual learning community would be established, possibly leading to an ongoing network of union women, was not met.
The group also found that finding time to participate was a problem. This was despite the fact that in theory at least, participation in an online course is more flexible, with the possibility of logging on from home or work at convenient times. Participation from home was felt to be preferable to participation at work. However, the experiences of the online course participants had interesting parallels with those of women tele-workers (Bryant, 2000). This research has found that needing to fit work around ‘time out’ from other task demands, whilst still existing in the same physical space, may actually lead to an extension of time demands on women, rather than necessarily providing a solution. This demonstrates that finding 'time out' may be as problematic as getting 'time off' as suggested earlier.
One participant also commented on the possibilities of the online course opening up surveillance opportunities for employers and she felt that she ought to be careful what she said about her employer online. The issue of the archiving facilitated by the online form (which is usually seen as a positive by commentators, e.g. Greene et al, 2001, 2000) has possible negative consequences in terms of personal visibility for those participating.
Nevertheless, the women in this case study were able to identify some advantages to online courses, generally approving of the addition of this mode of learning to trade union education provision. Importantly, it is clear that while the women we spoke to, were themselves able to attend conventional courses, they were clearly aware that many (if not most) women trade unionists do not have such choices. Therefore while the group expressed a very definite preference for traditional trade union courses, all the interviewees could see potentialities in the online form. For example, in line with the potential of ICTs to overcome the need for physical presence, attention was called to the difficulties faced by activists living in rural areas, who are less able to attend conventional trade union courses and meetings. Online forms of participation would be at least a partial resolution. Similarly, atypical workers – part-timers for example – might also benefit from remote forms of participation, since people who work part-time (especially women) usually do so because of other demands on their times such as care responsibilities. The group also considered that online courses might work best with information-based learning – for example health and safety courses or legal rights – rather than courses intended to develop skills involving interaction. We also need to recognise that the technology is continuously developing and improving. Some of the participants responded positively to suggestions that video-conferencing or audio and video streaming technology might be more adequate substitutes for the lack of face-to-face interaction. However, the existing online course could not yet support such capabilities.
This is a case
study of an e-network located within the trade union context of a major
national transport company, which we call TransportCo. The network’s members are primarily TGWU
stewards, although there are some officers from other
Analysis of group emails reveals that the network is used primarily as a vehicle for disseminating information and therefore, indicates the way that electronic activism can enhance communication between activists. Health and safety is a dominant issue in contributions to the network, taking the form of the sharing of information and experiences. There are some indications that the information disseminated via the e-network is used in local bargaining contexts. One example that stands out is the email postings concerning violent incidents. Early in 2002 representatives exchanged ‘stories’ of violent attacks on members including a stabbing, a shooting, punching incidents, spitting and arson. The ‘stories’ gathered then stimulated discussion on possible co-ordinated responses to management on protecting members’ safety. Another example concerns the way the network is used to share experiences regarding the implementation of various management-led policies in different localities.
The e-network moderator regarded the exchange of information and ‘stories’ as a major benefit to the union, considering the e-network to be an important vehicle for generating intra and inter union solidarity on certain issues. There had been instances of the e-network being instrumental in preventing management from employing non-union workers or workers from other sites during disputes. Therefore, more than just information sharing, the electronic network was able to contribute to the mobilising of activity and solidarity actions. However, it should be noted that there was little evidence of any calls for specific action in the network contributions. It seemed to be more a case of interesting and potentially useful examples/experiences being exchanged, which network members could then do as they saw fit with.
There were also
some examples of creative usage of the technology. The International Transport
Federation (ITF) is one of the links the e-network has forged. The ITF is keen
to use the Internet to improve horizontal communication between trade unionists
internationally, rather than information being disseminated via a country’s
umbrella union organisation (the TUC for example). The e-network had recently
organised messages of support for a labour dispute involving yellow school bus
drivers in
In summary, the TransportCo e-network case study represents an example of the way that the Internet can be used to exchange information and experiences efficiently and rapidly over large geographical areas. This information is then fed into the knowledge base of local trade unionists and utilised to strengthen the union position in local negotiating contexts. Although it could be argued that this dissemination could occur using more conventional media such as paper newsletters sent via the postal service, reports at meetings and so on, it is clearly the speed and cost-effectiveness of the Internet method that represent the greatest advantages.
It is also interesting to report very briefly on the contrasting experience of a similar network within the transport industry, but which is specifically for women. Set up by a female shop steward from TransportCo with the assistance of the male moderator above the intention was to create a discussion forum for the small number of women employed in the industry in order to combat their isolation. The network was designed as a space for disseminating information as well as for sharing experiences. Set up in July 2001, it had only gained 13 members by March 2002, and has not yet managed to develop into a flourishing network. This is for a number of reasons: an interview with the creator who acts as the moderator indicates firstly that technical problems have blighted the network because of problems she has faced with her Internet Service Provider. Additionally, there appears to be little thought given to how the network would be developed, the moderator did not know what women expected or wanted from the network and had difficulty reaching new members. This reflected her relative inexperience as a trade unionist and her lack of union contacts, in contrast to her male colleague’s experiences described earlier. Initially, like any communicative forum, electronic networks rely on one committed individual or group of individuals to maintain enough initial momentum. In this case the network’s creator felt disenchanted by both the technical difficulties and the problems in reaching women in the industry.
This involves a web site (www.ReedNUJ.org ) set up by workplace activists based in the local branch of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists) based at the company Reed International. The site illustrates how workplace activists used the Internet in a union recognition campaign within a workplace primarily made up of online journalists. While the NUJ had been successful in gaining a voluntary recognition agreement under the terms of the recent Employment Relations Act, slow progress was being made by union officers in terms of actually signing up members through fairly conventional recruitment drives, including leafleting and meetings. In the face of this, workplace activists decided to take action into their own hands. These activists felt unable to rely on the national union for infrastructure or advice - 'the NUJ was one of the first to launch a web presence,.. thereafter it made little progress. Even today its website is 'unofficial' - hosted by activists' (Mason, 2001: 2). Therefore, a single activist took on the task of setting up a web site to co-ordinate the recruitment drive. Overall it was seen as overwhelmingly successful in keeping employees informed of the recognition campaign and in recruiting members (although numbers are not available).This example is significant firstly because it illustrates the ability of activists outside of the official hierarchy to use an unofficial web site to 'do in a day what a national one may take months to do' (Mason, 2001: 4), indicating that electronic activism provides opportunities for enhanced forms of solidarity and communication. Electronic proximity enables the ready connection of those with similar interests or aims at minimal effort, and with highly distributed costs so that no one agency or agent is bearing the total cost of communication. This was demonstrated in the fact that the costs (apart from activist time) of the ReedNUJ.org site were extremely low - annual costs reported were £189.
One
might argue that the potential for distributed online communication is
especially important in the context of journalism and the wider media industry,
because of the non-standard nature of the work. Clearly these particular
activists, as online journalists, trying to recruit other on-line journalists,
will have heightened access to and skills to use ICTs,
reflecting the current domination of access by white-collar members. However,
it also indicates the potential for including more participants, especially
given the predicted increases in Internet access. We can reflect on the
difficulties faced by the NUJ with their conventional recruitment activities
and conclude that the promise that with ICT usage one can construct the
workplace discussion and consequently recruitment and organising activities
into the home was in this case delivered. Whether this in practice is
achievable by all unions at the present time is discussed in the conclusion.
We do not argue that ‘cyberunionism’
represents the panacea to cure all union ills. The foregoing discussion
indicates the complexities of electronic activism in practice. For the
potentialities of ICTs to be realised, certain
necessary conditions can be posited.
First, the need for improved access to
the Internet, at home, work and in other locations such as cyber cafes (Liff et al, 1999).
As discussed earlier, projected trends indicate that access is set to increase
rapidly and the
Second, the need for improved technical
skills and technical support for activists. This requires considerable investment and action on the
part of unions. Some unions have been creative in this arena, notably IT skills
training courses offered by the GPMU (see http://www.gpmu.org.uk/cms/learn_centre.htm)
or the facilitation of skill transfer by the hosting of members' web pages by
the NUJ (see http://media.gn.apc.org/members.html)
Third, unions need to engage with electronic media as legitimate and valuable forms of activism, which we suggest requires an attitude change about what is seen as constituting activism. Some of the women participating in the TUC Online course had concerns that electronic activism could become a secondary form of activism, suited only to those who cannot participate in the traditional domains activism. In this case it is likely to take on a second class status, whilst the ‘real’ trade union work continues to take place in physical meeting spaces.
Fourth, as these new forms of activism are emerging, people's experiences of them need to be positive so that they are not deterred. This is especially important if electronic activism is to mobilise previously inactive members. Positive experiences of electronic forms however, are reliant on technical resources, and care being taken as to design and implementation.
Finally, it can be argued that electronic forms of activism need to be seen as different and complementary rather than as substitutes for conventional forms (IRS, 2001; Greene et al, 2001). Indeed, it is a mistake to expect electronic forms to deliver exactly what face-to-face interaction does. Some aspects of activity can be delivered more effectively through electronic forms, whilst others will ideally continue within a conventional mode, but this balance may change as technological capabilities improve. In addition, it is clearly unrealistic to envisage the Internet transforming every 'inactive' member into an activist. It is important to recognise that existing conventional networks and communities retain their importance, and indeed facilitate electronic action. For example, the TransportCo e-network case study demonstrates the appeal of e-networks to people who were already very active trade unionists. The positive outcomes of the network are perhaps also a function of its aim to complement rather than replace existing activist forums. As findings within other social movement groups indicate: "sustained collective action is unlikely to originate from purely virtual ties if they are not sustained by previous interaction' (Diani, 2001: 124).
If nothing else the technology could enable unions to improve the delivery of their range of individual member services. More effective and efficient means of communication will prove necessary if unions are to rise to meet the expectations the membership has of individual representation and servicing posited by some authors (Hyman, 1997; Diamond & Freeman, 2002). Even if members do not become (more) active, then, at least they will be satisfied members, more likely to remain in membership, thus contributing to reducing member turnover.
Summarising our main arguments, union activism need not
necessarily require physical presence at union meetings or at the picket line.
It may also involve a plurality of individual communicative interactions and
activities from a number of activists working remotely, perhaps in their domestic
environments. Creative usage of ICTs is one of the
practical ways in which unions can develop proactive strategies to counter the
forces of membership decline and to reinvigorate local trade unionism, through
the creation of new channels of communication and new opportunities to
participate. Our examples demonstrate some of the ways in which unions are
currently doing this. We recognise that our examples do not all involve those
activists considered to be most ‘atypical’, however
they do demonstrate the potentialities of electronic activism in practice. Such
examples thus stand as positive precedents for future electronic activities,
demonstrating problems in practice and possible ways of resolving these so that
they may benefit under-represented groups. Further research is crucial in this
area, in particular, looking specifically at ‘atypical’ activists using
electronic forms, such as women-only networks, and exploring the wider context
of experiences, support for and opinions regarding the legitimacy of these
forms of participation.
In Marxism and the
Sociology of Trade Unionism (1971), Hyman indicates that democratic
tendencies are located within the domain of the workplace. This argument made
thirty years ago, whilst still having some purchase today is located in a
particular time and space. In the era of ICTs, this
paper offers another possible slant on the union democracy debate, arguing that
the era of ICTs offers the potential for democratic
tendencies to also be located in the domestic domain or at least spaces outside
of the workplace.
We acknowledge with thanks the helpful conceptual
suggestions of Professor Michael Terry, IRRU,
Bryant, S
(2000) ‘At home on the electronic frontier: work, gender and the information
highway’, New Technology, Work and
Employment,15:1,
19-33.
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