Today's Unions as Tomorrow's CyberUnions

By Today's Unions as Tomorrow's CyberUnions

On-going efforts by the American trade union movement to maximise their creative use of computer power can help slow, stem, and finally reverse the decline in union density. Computerization makes possible certain distinctive reforms vital if unions are to improve their renewal chances.

First published in the Journal of Labor Studies:

Introduction
While emphatically not a "magic bullet" or an instantaneous cure, computerization makes possible wide scale communications of dazzling speed and enormous outreach (national and international). It enables unprecedented accessibility of office-holders, and timely exchanges
of views among them and members, and among the members themselves (via electronic bulletin boards and chat rooms, including some run unofficially). It makes mobilization for political action and strike support far more feasible. And it facilitates corporate campaigns that would otherwise overwhelm with complexity and data.

On the level of the local, computerization enables organizers to download into a laptop reams of relevant material (grievance and arbitration records, previous
contracts, etc.). This enables them to do on the spot the high quality job expected by dues-payers influenced by the "Buck Rogers" high-tech world around them. As well, locals can create electronic lists to link together the entire membership, appeal to prospective members, address sub-cultures differently, and in other overdue ways, build a new form of "electronic community," a 21st-century adaptation of yesteryear's solidarity.

Where union militancy is concerned, intriguing new tools are
available: Unions can encourage members to threaten to shut down or in other ways impede the use of their computers at work. Or they can create "picket lines" in cyberspace. Or urge boycotts of the products or services of targeted employers, and do this faster and with far wider coverage than was possible relying on old-fashioned mailings offering "Do Not Buy" lists. Contrariwise, concerning
co-creating a high-performance workplace in partnership with a cooperative employer, a unions' use of computers can facilitate employee dialogue about overdue workplace boosts to productivity -
complete with a union imprimatur.

Accordingly, although insufficient in and of itself to "rescue" unions, computer power raises fresh hope that ensuing gains in efficiency and effectiveness may help attract many new members. It could help raise the level of support of existing members (always Unions' best organizers). And in 101 other significant ways, it
could rapidly bolster the unions' urgent efforts at recovery. (See, in this connection, http://workingfamilies.ibelong.com/ and
http://afscme.org/publications/puttc.htm).

I. Background. When in the late 1970's Australian unions first got involved with mainframe computers, they were used to handle the massive data-warehousing and data-mining record-keeping needs posed by dues and fringe benefit matters. Word-processing desktop PCs followed,
and in due course, certain especially progressive unions and locals began to employ the laptop and e-mail power of Internet and the World Wide Web.

Were this all there was to the computer use story it would reduce only to a minor tale of bureaucratic modernization, a necessary, but insufficient explanation for the trade union movement's (continually more threatened)
persistence. While commonly overlooked, aspects of this tale are, in fact, much richer matters.

Computerization has begun to challenge the status quo in many critical aspects of modern unionism.

Symbolic here is the conversion of the AFL-CIO (The US equivalent of the Australian Council of Trade Unions) News, the bland, mind-dulling house organ that John Sweeney, new head of the Union Federation, inherited in 1996. His aides quickly turned it into a bright, brassy, and "hip" publication now called America @ Work, complete nearly every issue with a page devoted to Internet sites
and cyberspace tools worth union attention. This move showed
recognition by the Sweeney forces of the need to present a new "face" for Union, one that signals "being with it," via energizing, colorful, and morale-boosting messages.

In this essay I explore how computer uses are altering the internal operations of certain progressive International Unions and their best locals. More specifically, I will discuss five related matters:

1) What are the major areas of advancement?
2) What are the major causes of concern?
3) What are the relevant types of computer-using
(or non-using) unions and locals?
4) What defines a CyberUnion? And
5) what pending changes in computer options should Organized Unions take carefully into account?

Given an inexcusable neglect by scholars of this subject, and the related paucity of available data, only very tentative answers can be shared at this time, answers that hopefully will earn testing and improvement in further discourse. (1)

III. Methodology. Drawing on 47 years of formal study of unionism here and abroad, and especially on my last 26 years of adjunct teaching at the AFL-CIO George Meany Center for Union Studies (Silver Springs, MD.), I have long tracked the complex pattern of union uses of computer power (Shostak; 1991).

Most recently, I attended the first three 'UnionTech Conventions' held in 1998 (San Francisco), 1999 (New York), and 2000 (Madison, WIS.), as these three-day events highlight progress and problems in an invaluable
(and unofficial) way. (They are self-sponsored by grass-roots activists, and only in 2000 did the AFL-CIO send several representatives). I have often interviewed key AFL-CIO and International Union computer specialists (Web Masters, etc.), and I have attended several workshops given for unionists eager to gain computer skills. I was an invited guest at the inauguration in 2000 of the new Teamster Union Web site, and I have guided teams of my
students in close studies of the 61 Web sites of the 64 AFL-CIO union affiliates (along with hundreds of local union sites and several overseas sites).

In 1999 I authored "CyberUnion: Empowering Union through Computer Technology", and I am busy now preparing a successor (Manual-like) Naturally, I participate in various Union-oriented list serves, maintain one of my own (www.cyberunions.net), and "surf" both the literature and the Internet (with its estimated six billion pages) for relevant material. (2)

IV. Areas of Advancement. Four key aspects of internal affairs appear significantly changed by Unions' use of computer power. Just about every aspect of unionism has been impacted, but the four - alliance-building, communications, organizing, and staff development
efforts - are at the forefront in demonstrating whether or not computer uses make a really consequential difference.

1. Alliance-building has always been a priority, with unions and locals alike seeking strategic ties to other bodies in Union and to various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

Historically, however, this has generally meant burdensome file drawers stuffed to overflow with relevant clippings and
correspondence, etc. Union officers had a mountain of "must call!" pink phone slips on a desktop spindle, and a pile of business cards from contacts only vaguely remembered. Much of the information
quickly grew stale and useless.

Today, reliance on computers means electronic files that can save space, are timely, and can with reasonable effort be kept current - thanks to e-mail exchanges designed to update information. Phone calls can give way to real-time e-mail exchanges (complete with a

"paper trail"). As well, a union or local can discretely assess the Web site of a prospective allied organization, and determine privately whether or not to reach out itself for a new alliance in a coordinated boycott, educational venture, lobbying effort, picket line, or the like.

2. Communications has historically featured a staid house organ, poorly attended meetings, many (commonly ignored) mailings, and some new and breathless use of faxes or even beeper messages. The material generally came from the top down to the rank-and-file, and was commonly innocuous or manipulative propaganda (and just as commonly under-valued by many recipients, staff and rank-and-filers alike).

Today, at a click of a mouse millions of members of 61 of the AFL-CIO's 64 affiliates with a Web site can have their own unprecedented access to facts, figures, documents, archives, rules, regulations, photos, videos, etc. They can re-sort this material to suit their purposes, and can request additional material - including streaming video subject matter and other fascinating forms of communications they are coming to expect from their International Unions

Shop Stewards, for example, can access eunionately kept proprietary profiles of active mediators and arbitrators (their biases, idiosyncrasies, standards, etc.), as well as data on union law cases and precedents. Especially helpful are clues as to how best handle a grievance, arbitration, etc., in light of yesterday's major decisions, clues the computer can format as an electronic tutorial or rulebook.

Members can be briefed immediately about fast-breaking developments, and kept abreast almost in a real-time mode. E-mails now go out in a 24/7 (day-long; every day) format, and a remarkable new "web" of tight communications never possible with mail, phone, or fax now binds members as never before.

Especially novel is the opportunity computer-based communication has made possible for a vast upgrade in the very old effort to forge strong bonds among unions around the world. With an estimated 2,700 Union Web sites online now, and more being added weekly, the opportunities for networking are enormous. (Freeman and Thomas, in Taylor)

To be sure, various federations have struggled with this for decades (the ICEM, with its 403 union affiliates in 113 countries; and many others), but making phone connections and/or airmail use were always a hindrance. Now, e-mails flash back and forth almost in real time, aiding far-flung port boycotts, corporate campaigns, and other coordinated international activities, despite daunting time and
space challenges.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but perhaps the most far-reaching change in Unions' communications involves the newfound ability of members to reach one another. Historically, a member could to do this only through the unions' newspaper or magazine, and then only
if the editors agreed to do so. Today, grass-roots activists arebusy on a 24/7 basis exchanging advice, views, and visions where their world of Union in concerned. Imagine caucuses of like-minded members link together in e-mail list serves or through a shared Web site.

3. Organizing has previously been a neglected step-child, receiving
only about five percent of the annual budget and little respect from
many stand-patters (often waiting out their retirement, or
disinclined to assume the heartaches that came with having to
service a lot of new members with unreasonable and untutored
expectations).

>Today, however, in response to the crisis posed by Unions' steady
>numerical decline, and the unrelenting pressure from the Sweeney
>Administration, many unions and locals are spending more money and
>effort than ever before - with computers strategic in the process.
>
>Many leads are coming in cyberspace to union Web sites specifically
>designed to attract non-members reaching out for help. Organizers
>are immediately advised by Web Masters via e-mail whom they are to
>rush to contact. The computer also draws a roadmap to the home of a
>prospective member, and provides an analysis of the company,
>industry, and union market history involved in this specific case.
>
>Especially intriguing is the possibility that unions might soon use
>the Internet to organize "minority" locals inside a workplace as yet
>unorganized. Incubators for unionism, these computer-based "locals"
>could colunionate via list serves with one another around the
>country, trading field-proven advice and lending precious morale
>support. These unofficial "locals" could make a case for formal
>unionization by proving useful to their surreptitous members and
>promoting solidarity - even as participants wait until the times are
>propitious for seeking an open card count or NLRB election (Freeman
>and Diamond, in Taylor).
>
>Another less-heralded aspect of this matter, organizing the
>organized, can also receive a major boost from Unions' use of
>computer power. Local unions in particular can use their Web site as
>a 24/7 "newspaper," rich in very current coverage of the activities
>of members. Photos of participants in a rally, a picket line, a
>union picnic, or a meeting can appear within a few hours of the
>event (or sooner!). Immediate news of births, deaths, retirements,
>etc., can be proudly carried, the sort of homey material that used
>to grow stale in a once-a-month prosaic union paper, but now can
>excite and please members who appreciate a bit of positive
>recognition.
>
>Especially creative Web masters can use their site to offer members
>a swap service. Or for a garage sale outlet. Or for a
>recipe-exchange page. Or for other "down home" services valued by a
>membership that comes thereby to think first of the local's Web site
>when seeking valuable information. In this way new bonds can be
>forged between local officialdom and dues-payers, bonds that may yet
>help secure the highly rewarding volunteer services of rank-and-file
>organizers.
>
>4. Staff development efforts, while not as poorly treated as was
>organizing, have also suffered from neglect and low priority. They
>were commonly under-funded, sporadic, uneven, and poorly assessed.
>Inadequate backing meant meager results, with ensuing
>inefficiencies, uneven effectiveness, high staff turnover or
>burnout, low morale, and other costly consequences.
>
>Today, however, Union knows it can and must do better. Staff
>obsolescence threatens unacceptable chaos, especially where getting
>the staff up to speed in computer use capabilities is concerned.
>Accordingly, tutorials on line or through computer workshops are
>increasingly common, and are budgeted for as a necessity.
>
>As if this wasn't enough, a new type of staffer has been added to
>the lineup: a Union Union computer specialist. These talented (and
>often expensive) individuals help assure the adequacy of the unions'
>computer system, offer staff training, prop up the computer work of
>key officers, prepare power point presentations, and in general,
>keep the organization "on line." (Katz)
>
>In all, then, four key aspects of internal administration - building
>alliances, getting the word out (and back), recruiting new members
>(and re-organizing old ones), and upgrading the human capital of the
>unions' or local's staff - would seem to benefit considerably from
>computer use.
>
>V. Areas of Concern. Five sources of anxiety standout, and restrain
>Unions' use of computer power. While some of this can be traced to
>the newness of applications, it is still unclear how much will
>respond to gains in experience and the passage of time.
>
>1. Many in Union worry about a potential erosion in face-to-face
>contact, arguably Unions' greatest asset in earning and holding onto
>members. Dues-payers like to feel recognized (and valued) by union
>officialdom, a feeling that impersonal e-mails may not convey.
>"Pressing the flesh" and "showing your face" are practices many in
>union think indispensable, regardless of the time-and-energy saving
>(cyberspace) alternatives championed by Unions' digerati.
>
>2. Many in Union worry about loudmouths and troublemakers
>monopolizing dialogue in non-moderated chat rooms and bulletin
>boards. They fear that "crazy talk" will drive others away, and
>undermine the entire medium. They also worry that thin-skinned
>officers will be hurt by outrageous posted criticism, and insist on
>either strong censorship or a shutdown.
>
>3. Many in Union worry about a Generation Gap that separates older
>leaders from young "hot shop" types. The younger leaders are often
>impatient to get on with it, to rush the computerization process
>faster than the older (pre-computer) leaders are comfortable with -
>a rift that exacerbates the natural divide between the generations -
>and undermines solidarity.
>
>4. Many in Union worry about loss of confidentiality. They fear that
>hackers and others possibly in the pay of government RICO "snoops,"
>union busters, union-hating employers, or the dangerous like, will
>break into union data banks and files, much to the unions' dismay.
>
>As well, when a Federal Court in April of 2000 ordered seizure and
>search of the home computers of 21 flight attendants suspected of
>coordinating via e-mail an illegal sick out, a chill went through
>Organized Union that has left its mark. Never before had a court
>given an employer the right to tap the equivalent of a home phone,
>search for incriminating data on 43 people (many more than the 21
>attendants), and "invaded" private homes. Although fought by Ralph
>Nader's Public Citizen's litigation group and other like
>organizations, the story stays alive in Unions' oral culture - and
>scares many computer users (Wieffering and Kennedy).
>
>5. Finally, many in Union worry about the overload that e-mails
>entail in worklives already stretched to the limit. Union staffers
>complain of their inability to keep up with electronic messages
>rushing in, and earmarked for rapid response, almost regardless of
>the situation of the receiver. Many grumble about an unreasonable
>speedup, made all the less bearable by the absence of any
>commensurate increase in salary.
>
>All five anxieties - possible erosion in face-to-face relations,
>loss of control over the medium, Generation rift, loss of
>confidentiality, and (unappreciated) work overload - can serve as a
>valuable alert: None need prove a paralyzing self-fulfilling
>prophecy.
>
>Remedies are available, such as special schooling (private,
>discrete, and exceedingly sensitive) in computer use for older union
>leaders. Password protection schemes (as used now by the AFL-CIO and
>various unions). (Levy) And, redistributed workloads, the hiring of
>additional aides, and overdue salary increases for those genuinely
>overloaded by computer inputs.
>
>Above all, Union helps to remember "high tech" computerization works
>best when aiding such "high touch" efforts as "one-on-one"
>organizing, "shoe leather" vote-getting, "button hole" lobbying for
>union law reform, and so on è the humanizing dimensions of unionism
>that constitute its unique "value added" dimension.
>
>VI. Three Patterns of Computer Use: A Division of the House. Given
>the pattern above of gains and pains associated with current
>computer use by Union, three models seem to dominate the scene.
>
>The first, which I call Cyber Naught, involves minimum employ of
>computer potentialities. Cyber Naught unions and locals generally
>hesitate to go beyond staid reliance on electronic bookkeeping. They
>pretend little has changed around them, deny being under pressure to
>modernize, and essentially sleepwalk through time.
>
>The second, Cyber Drift, has union organizations move spastically
>first in this direction, and then that, unable to guide their own
>efforts. Crippled by unthinking adaptation of incompatible, if
>glitzy and trendy equipment, Cyber Drift unions and locals
>disappoint unionists eager to believe Union has much to gain from
>computer use.
>
>The third, Cyber Gain, wins accolades for its state-of-the-art
>accomplishments where computers are concerned. Ironically, however,
>its lasting significance may be to set the stage for the emergence
>soon of its necessary successor, Cyber Unions, today only an
>alluring distant possibility. Unless and until Cyber Gain
>organizations are succeeded by the CyberUnion variety, unions will continue to sub-uptimize possibilities, and remain far
>more vulnerable than is tenable.
>
>1. Ostrich Approach. Where the internal operations of a union are
>concerned, Cyber Naught union organizations seek to preserve and
>persist, rather than to update or innovate. They employ computers
>primarily to satisfy traditional business needs, as in accounting
>and bookkeeping (payroll data; etc.).
>
>Put starkly, Cyber Naught unions and locals use computers to get
>through the day, and do so in a flat and uninspired way. Union
>officials and members settle for inertia and quietism è much as if
>Toffler's 1970 classic, Future Shock, had not been written, complete
>with its urgings that the Union Movement pioneer in the use of
>information technology breakthroughs. (Toffler)
>
>The problem here appears rooted in conceptual inertia: Out-dated
>habits of mind have far too many Cyber Naught union leaders
>preferring form to function, protocol to results, and rhetoric to
>risk-taking. They want a future like the past, only more so. They
>treat unionism as a passive and reactive institution, and they act
>as a deadening hand on change.
>
>2. Galloping off in All Directions. Cyber Drift unions or locals
>move aimlessly, like a cork bobbing on a turbulent sea, though with
>far less likelihood than a cork of staying afloat. Lacking an
>Information Technology officer, and available for "seduction" by a
>never-ending series of slick-talking vendors, these organizations
>are crippled by incompatible software, hardware, and infrastructure
>components. Hardly anything works together, and frustration runs
>rampant.
>
>3. Unions' Best Hope - for the Moment. In contrast with Cyber Naught
>types, Cyber Gain unions and locals make much of computer
>possibilities. Their use of computers can be creative (though as I
>shall argue later, it still does not go far enough). Officers,
>staffers, and activists alike appreciate how much more can be done,
>and enjoy adapting gains made elsewhere in and outside of Union.
>
>However, before too glowing an impression is given, it should be
>noted that Cyber Gain unions and locals have many telling
>weaknesses. More specifically, where computer applications are
>concerned, these unions and locals often remain frozen in the first
>generation of Internet use. They are preoccupied with meeting only
>straightforward informational needs. Their Web site typically offers
>their logo and basic facts, a static display critics dismiss as
>"brochure ware" or "billboards."
>
>Cyber Gain Unions fail to understand, or decline to value the fact
>that second generation applications are quite different: Known as
>transactional, they emphasize the dynamic participation of the
>parties, rather than accept passivity, as at present in far too many
>Cyber Gain organizations.
>
>While the Cyber Gain model is clearly superior to the Cyber Naught
>and Cyber Drift options, it will not suffice. It rebuilds, but it
>does not adequately renew. By failing to take the full potential of
>computerization boldly into account, Cyber Gain organizations do not
>so much deal with the future as they streamline the past. Only a far
>more ambitious use of computers will do the job necessary if Union
>is to survive and thrive.
>
>VII. Getting to a Third Wave CyberUnion F-I-S-T Model . If Union is
>to reinvent itself as rapidly, as thoroughly, and as meaningfully as
>appears necessary, far more than Cyber Gain unionism seems required.
>
>Specifically, early 21st century unions might well experiment with
>an ambitious and creative alternative that incorporates futuristics,
>innovations, services, and union traditions (F-I-S-T). Union
>urgently needs the rewards possible from reliable forecasting. And
>the rewards that innovations, such as computer data mining, uniquely
>offer. And the rewards that computer-based services, such as volume
>discounts on PCs, can provide. And the rewards possible from the
>computer-aided modernization of traditions (as in the production of
>inter-active software rich with union history material).
>
>Together, then, these four items (F-I-S-T) just might help provide
>Union with the foresight, the dynamism, the appeal, and the heart
>necessary if is to build on its Cyber Gain strengths and reverse its
>long-term decline. (Shostak: 1999)
>
>Pivotal in the matter is the possible rise to power soon of Unions'
>digerati. When such activists envision the years ahead, they expect
>computers to soon secure unprecedented access of everyone in Union
>to everyone else ... officers to members, members to officers.
>unionists to non-unionists, and vice versa.
>
>The digerati dream includes rapid polling of the membership.
>Galvanizing of rallies or e-mail protests. Spotlighting of models
>worth emulating, and wrongs for the righting. Libraries put at a
>unionist's beck and call, along with valuable arbitration,
>grievance, and mediation material. And open chat rooms and bulletin
>boards for unfettered telling and listening, for the creation of a
>High Tech electronic (virtual) "community" to bolster High Touch
>solidarity among real folk.
>
>As if this was not enough, the vision of Unions' digerati includes a
>quantum increase soon in the collective intelligence and
>consciousness of "global village" unionists in a global
>International. Unprecedented cooperation across national borders.
>The first effective counter to transnational corporate behemoths.
>And, going out a year or two further, possibly even Intelligent
>Agent software housed in computer "wearables," empowering unionists
>as never before.
>
>Guided by this growing cadre of computer-knowledgeable types, Union
>can soon move more unions and locals into CyberUnion status. And
>thereby invigorate the membership. Draw in new members. Intimidate
>opponents. Intrigue vote-seekers. Meet the very high aspirations
>union "netizens" have for the Union Movement. And in other valuable
>ways, significantly bolster Unions' chances of moving especially
>advanced unions and locals up to CyberUnion status early in the 21st
>century.
>
>Forward thinking and visionary, these techno-savvy men and women
>have a hefty dose of indefatigable optimism. Unlike many of their
>peers, their expectations concerning the renewing of Organized Unions
>are almost without limits. As they learn more about the F-I-S-T
>model, and make it their own, their influence may soar.
>
>VIII. What should trade unions be Monitoring? Expectations of changes in
>information technology are very exciting, and underline the
>life-and-death importance of Unions staying abreast: Internet
>cognoscenti "are betting they will soon rekindle the mega-innovation
>of the Web's early days [a mere ten years ago] è a world of
>pervasive computing that lets people communicate more efficiently
>than ever." (Ante)
>
>By the end of 2002 there may be more mobile devices than PCs
>accessing the Internet, so powerful appears the next "killer ap,"
>the "teleputer" (otherwise known as an advanced wireless mobile
>phone). By 2007 as many as 59% of all Americans (up from 2 % today)
>are expected to own a device that can access mobile data (pager,
>phone, Personal Digital Assistant). (Gunther)
>
>Where stationary PCs are concerned, knowledgeable forecasters expect
>household penetration to plateau at about 73 percent by 2005, up
>from 57 percent in 2000, an expansion that underlines the increasing
>number of unionists able to use Union Web sites and access Union
>e-mail. (Baker).
>
>By 2007,then, a significant number of union influentials (officers
>and members) may wear a compact picture-phone and computer on one's
>wrist and dictate to it by voice and listening to its "voice" in
>turn. They may use it to access any type of information, anywhere,
>at anytime. To stay in touch with significant others all the time.
>To send and receive messages in all languages, as if their own. To
>surf the Internet and Web with the stress-less help of "smart"
>software that provides useful information even before they ask for
>it.
>
>If only half of this is realized in the next few years, the rest is
>likely to be very close behind, and the impact is likely to prove
>mind-boggling è for social movements like that of Organized Labour,
>and everything else. Cyber Gain organizations, and their successor,
>CyberUnions, will need new hardware, software, and infrastructure
>resources to handle the challenges entailed in volume, language, and
>time zone matters. These and scores of related possibilities cannot
>be followed closely enough, or reacted to faster enough.
>
>Summary: Union Prospects? American Trade Unions five years
>from now are likely to be very different from their 2001
>counterparts: Their hallmark will either be irrelevance, or they
>will draw handsomely on CyberUnion attributes (F-I-S-T).
>
>At least where four areas of advancement are concerned -
>alliance-building, communications, organizing (external/internal),
>and staff development - Union would seem well on its way. Where five
>major anxieties are concerned - losing its personal touch, being
>battered by internal criticism, hurting its older leaders,
>suffering breaches of confidentiality, and work overload and speedup
>- Union has several available remedies to employ, and other reforms
>still to create.
>
>Alert to advances that other organizations - businesses, NGOs,
>levels of government, schools, etc. - are busy making in their uses
>of computer power, Union is not too proud to adapt and utilize their
>hard-earned gains. Little wonder that academics like Harvard's
>Professor Richard Freeman now contend "employee organizations will
>prosper in cyberspace because the internet is the bridging
>technology between an increasingly heterogeneous workforce and
>individualistic workers and the collective activity and solidarity
>that lie at the heart of trade unionism." (Freeman and Thomas, in
>Taylor)
>
>This much at least seems clear: With about three rewarding decades
>already spent learning how to better employ computer power,
>Organized Labour can be expected to explore creative possibilities
>here long into the future. Early in the 21st century, a new model of
>computer-based unionism - one celebrating the F-I-S-T model - may
>help Union finally achieve the security and well-being that has
>eluded it from pre-Colonial years to date.

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March 2002 contents