Technology offers unions chance of 21st century growth spurt

Trade unions are innovating and experimenting in their use of the internet in ways that could lead to an historic "new spurt" of growth, according to a leading labour economist.

Professor Richard Freeman, who holds appointments at Harvard University and the London School of Economics, writes in a new book on the future of the trade union movement that he had expected to find unions adapting only slowly to the internet.

But a comparison of US and UK union websites, and analysis of developments in the ways in which unions have used their web presence in recent years, revealed instead that they were innovating and experimenting with the internet at unparalleled rates".

Freeman points to the example of the UK firefighters' pay dispute as one of innovation. At the time, both the TUC and Fire Brigades Union used their official websites to drum up support for the union's pay claim, while the TUC was able to launch a dedicated site to attract attention to a demonstration. But a further unofficial site set up by union activists allowed firefighters the freedom to criticise their leadership's handling of the dispute, and gave an uncensored view of rank-and-file attitudes.

Although this did not produce a union victory, and may have had the opposite effect by "feeding unrealistic expectations to members and reducing the possibility of compromise at critical times", such approaches were likely to be imitated in future disputes, Freeman predicts.

He also points to a new trend in the United States, where the AFL-CIO federation and individual unions are beginning to use "open source" formats - essentially forums for activists and those outside collective bargaining to share information and build online and offline communities - to build support and membership (see box).

Meanwhile, in the UK, the rise of works councils and similar organisations as a result of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations, means that the TUC and individual unions are likely to provide online services to bodies which in many cases could be mostly non-union, Freeman suggests.

On both sides of the Atlantic, he says, unions will also improve the content of their websites, construct email lists of members, find ways to link their online and offline activities, create more ways to join the union, and personalise their services. Activists would also use the web to press for greater democracy and transparency.

"These changes will profoundly affect union membership and density," Freeman argues.

In the past, he says, union growth in virtually all advanced economies has "occurred in great spurts, with new union forms and new groups of workers leading the way". The use of new technologies to deliver union services, and the need to find new ways of working "has spurred the kind of creativity and experimentation to produce a new spurt".

As a result, he concludes, "some open source form may find the 'killer application' service to workers and mix of online and offline activities for the next union spurt".

Trade Unions: Resurgence or Demise? Edited by Susan Fernie and David Metcalf. Routledge, ISBN 0 415 28411 2. £70 hardback; £21.99 paperback.