This essay of mine appeared in a 2002 issue of WORKING USA:
Tomorrow's CyberUnions: Labor's BEST
Bet!
Arthur B. Shostak
Drexel University,
Philadelphia, PA 19104
To think usefully
about Organized Labor today is to think immediately about tomorrow, so fast and
thoroughgoing are the changes with which Labor must deal. In particular,
expectations concerning Labor's current and prospective use of computers are
very exciting: Little wonder certain academics now contend "employee
organizations will prosper in cyberspace because the Internet is the bridging
technology between an increasingly heterogeneous work force and individualistic
workers and the collective activity and solidarity that lie at the heart of
trade unionism." (Freeman and Thomas, in Taylor)
As for computer use
tomorrow, Organized Labor should be busy preparing for mind-boggling changes:
Internet cognoscenti, for example, "are betting they will soon rekindle
the mega-innovation of the Web's early days [a mere ten years ago] Sť a world
of pervasive computing that lets people communicate more efficiently than
ever." (Ante)
For example, 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). Keen competition in
2002, however, is expected from Microsoft's Tablet PC, a portable book-sized
three pound wireless "wonder." Proponents hail it as "a
revolutionary device that actually replaces the laptop in your briefcase and
the PC on your desk." (Levy; April 30, 2001) By 2007 as many as 59% of all
Americans (up from two percent today) are expected to own a device that can
access mobile data. (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 Labor Web sites
and access Labor e-mail from their living room. (Baker).
Union households
already outdistance all households in possession of at least one PC (some 60%
in January, 2000), and this gap is likely to persist, if not widen. (Lazarovici)
By 2007,then, a
significant number of union influentials (officers and members) may
carry a compact picture-phone and computer and dictate to it by voice and
listen to it 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.
As if these
hardware advances are not exciting enough, Organized Labor should be studying
group collaborative software now touted as "the next great turn of the
wheel." (Ellis) Known as peer-to-peer (p-to-p) programming, it
circumvents centralized computer infrastructure and allows PCs to talk directly
with one another. Its creator, Ray Ozzie, believes it offers the
"directness and spontaneity of a phone call, the visual immediacy of a
fax, the asynchrony of e-mail, and the privacy of a closed-door meeting."
(Ozzie, in Green) Proponents expect p-to-p to enable users (such as far-flung
union activists) to work easier and more creatively with one another than ever
before possible. Skeptics agree it will be used very
broadly, but dismiss it as "only" another technology. (Gomes).
If only half of
these glittering possibilities are soon realized, the rest are likely to be
very close behind. The impact is likely to continue to change reality
dramatically, as it has since we entered the Information Age Sť especially
for social movements like Organized Labor, and for every one and every thing
else.
I. Labor's
Challenge. The central question for Labor in the early years of the
21st century asks - What is Labor to do - about its computer use challenge?
Plainly, on-going efforts by the AFL-CIO and its 64 affiliates to use computer
power may help slow, stem, and possibly even reverse Labor's long term
on-going decline. The harder question asks if Labor has the will and
"smarts" to go beyond conventional uses and dare to employ a
fresh model, one with computer use at its core, rather than its periphery, one
I call the F-I-S-T model (more on this later).
While emphatically
not a "magic bullet," computerization makes possible wide scale
communications of dazzling speed and enormous outreach (national and
international). It enables unprecedented access by members to office-holders,
and timely exchanges of views among them, as well as among the members
themselves (via electronic bulletin boards and chat rooms, including some
valuable ones run unofficially by the "Loyal Opposition"). It
bolsters mobilization for political action and strike support. And it
facilitates corporate campaigns that would otherwise overwhelm with complexity
and data.
Where locals are
concerned, computerization enables International Representatives and Business
Agents to download reams of relevant material (grievance and arbitration
records, previous contracts, etc.). This enables them to use their laptop on
the spot to do a high quality job directly on the shop or office floor. As
well, locals can create electronic list serves to link together an 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 solidarity.
Where labor
militancy is concerned, intriguing new tools are under consideration: Unions
might encourage members to shut down or in other ways impede the use of their
computers at work. Or they could 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 via the Internet than was ever possible
relying on old-fashioned mailings.
Contrariwise,
concerning a rare, if desirable possibility, a local's effort to co-create a
high-performance workplace in partnership with a cooperative employer, a Labor
computer system (like Groove, discussed above) could facilitate employee
dialogue about overdue workplace boosts to productivity - complete with a union
imprimatur.
Accordingly,
although unable alone to "rescue" Labor, gains from computer use in
efficiency and effectiveness might help attract many new members. Computer use
could also help bolster support of existing members (always Labor's best
organizers). And, in 101 other significant ways, it could rapidly aid Labor's
urgent efforts at recovery. (See, in this connection,
http://workingfamilies.ibelong.com/ and http://afscme.org/publications/puttc.htm).
I. Background.
When, over 30 years ago, Labor first got involved with mainframe computers,
they were used to meet awesome needs in record keeping 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 laptops and
the e-mail power of the Internet and the World Wide Web, albeit in an uneven
and hesitant manner.
Were this all there
was to the computer use-by-Labor story it would reduce only to a minor tale of
bureaucratic modernization, a necessary, but insufficient explanation for
Labor's (precarious) persistence. However, while commonly overlooked, aspects
of this tale of technology adoption are, in fact, much richer matters.
Of late,
computerization has begun to challenge the status quo in many critical aspects
of modern unionism (and modern life alike). Components of trade unionism all
the way from A (accountability) to Z (Zeitgeist) are being substantially
altered, especially where decisive matters of internal administration are
concerned. (Lee)
Symbolic here is
the conversion of the AFL-CIO News, a bland, prosaic, mind-dulling house
organ that John Sweeney inherited in 1996 on assuming the presidency of the
AFL-CIO. Much to his credit, his aides quickly turned it into a bright, brassy,
and "hip" publication now called America @ Work. Nearly
every issue has a page devoted to Internet sites and cyberspace tools worth
union attention.
If Labor is to make
more of the possibilities here, much will hinge on still open answers to these
five questions: 1) What are unions and locals really getting out their current
use of computers? 2) What are the major causes of concern? 3) What are the relevant
types of unions and locals? 4) What sets a CyberUnion (a term I coined; much
more on this later) apart from existing types? And, 5) So what? What is
at really at stake?
Given an
inexcusable neglect by scholars of this subject (this pioneering issue of
Working USA is the first to pay the topic warranted attention), and, given
the related paucity of available data, only very tentative answers can be
shared at this time, answers that hopefully will earn further testing and
refinement. (1)
Il. Areas of
Advancement. Four key aspects of internal affairs appear significantly
improved by Labor's 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 any of this is really making a valued difference.
1.
Alliance-building has always been a priority, with unions and locals alike
seeking strategic ties to other bodies within Labor and to various
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) outside the Labor Movement.
In the past,
however, this has generally meant burdensome file drawers stuffed to overflow
with clippings and correspondence, etc. Union officers confronted a mountain of
"must call!" pink phone slips on a desktop spindle. Business
cards piled up from contacts only vaguely remembered. Much of the information
quickly grew stale and useless. Results disappointed everyone, and the
priority of alliances fell, even if rhetoric urging gains here did not diminish
in volume and ceremonial frequency.
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 give way to real-time e-mail exchanges
(complete with a "paper trail"). As well, a union or a local can
discretely assess the Web site of a prospective allied organization. It
can determine privately whether to seek a new alliance in a coordinated
boycott, educational venture, lobbying effort, picket line, or the like. And it
can determine - in discrete dialogue with other labor bodies - whether to offer
assistance.
2. Communications
has historically involved a staid house organ, poorly attended meetings, and
many (commonly ignored) mailings. The "message" generally came from
the top down, and was commonly innocuous or deafening (and was just as commonly
under-valued by many recipients, staff and rank-and-filers alike).
Today, millions of
members of the 61 AFL-CIO's affiliates (out of 64) with a Web site can at a
click of a mouse have access to facts, figures, documents, archives, rules,
regulations, photos, videos, etc. They can re-sort this material to suit their
own purposes, and they can request additional material - including streaming
video subject matter and other fascinating forms of communications they are
coming to expect from their locals and International Unions
Shop Stewards, for
example, can access revealing profiles of active mediators and arbitrators
(their biases, idiosyncrasies, standards, etc.). They can access data on
labor law cases and precedents. And they can secure field-proven 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 can now go out in a 24/7 (day-long; every
day) format as part of a remarkable new "web" of timely
communications never possible before with mail, phone, or fax.
Especially novel is
the opportunity computer-based communication has made possible for a vast
upgrade in a very old effort to forge strong bonds among unions around the
world (an effort Marx and Gompers alike aided). With an estimated 2,700 Labor
Union Web sites on-line now, and more being added weekly, the opportunities for
networking are enormous. (Freeman and Thomas, in Taylor)
Although not well
known by most unionists here, various federations overseas have tried to
promote international solidarity for decades (such as the ICEM, with its 403
union affiliates in 113 countries). But making phone connections and/or airmail
use has always been a hindrance. Today, e-mails flash back and forth almost in
real time, aiding the conduct of far-flung port boycotts, intricate corporate
campaigns, and other coordinated international activities.
Perhaps the
most far-reaching change in Labor's communications involves the newfound
ability of members to reach one another... independent of officialdom.
Until recently, a member could to do so only through the union's newspaper or
magazine, and then only if the editors agreed. Today, grass-roots activists are
busy on a 24/7 basis exchanging uncensored advice, views, and visions. Caucuses
of like-minded members can link together in an e-mail list serve or through a
shared Web site. Solidarity is built, and the cause of union democracy can
receive a very strong boost. (More on this, known as Transactional Computing,
later).
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 Labor's 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 labor 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
collaborate 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 surreptitious 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 Labor's 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,
Labor 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 Labor Union
computer specialist. These talented (and often expensive) individuals help
assure the adequacy of the union's 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 union's or local's staff - would seem to
benefit considerably from computer use.
lll. Areas of
Concern. Five sources of anxiety standout, and restrain Labor's 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 Labor
worry about a potential erosion in face-to-face contact, arguably Labor's
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 labor think indispensable, regardless of the
time-and-energy saving (cyberspace) alternatives championed by Labor's
digerati.
2. Many in Labor
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 Labor
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 Labor
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 union's 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 Labor 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 Labor's oral culture - and scares many computer users (Wieffering and
Kennedy).
5. Finally, many in
Labor worry about the overload that e-mails entail in work lives 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 staffers resent heightened
expectations on them to respond almost immediately via e-mail to scores of
daily e-mail queries, even while their previous workload weighs heavy. As well,
top officers often shift their e-mail response load to staffers with blithe
indifference.
Some staffers
grumble about an unreasonable speedup, made all the less bearable by the
absence of any commensurate increase in salary. Paltry utterly fail to
assuage the pain. And rumors of high salaries required to hire and retain
computer specialists only rub salt in the wound.
All five current
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 call for overdue reforms: None need
prove a paralyzing self-fulfilling prophecy.
Remedies are
available, such as special schooling (private, discrete, and exceedingly
sensitive) for older union leaders in how to use computers. Password protection
schemes (as used now by the AFL-CIO and various unions) would help. (Levy) And,
redistributed workloads, the hiring of additional aides, and overdue salary
increases for those genuinely overloaded by computer inputs would go a long way
in remedying problems.
lV. Three
Patterns of Computer Use: A Division of the House. Given the pattern above
of gains and pains associated with current computer use by Labor, three models
seem to dominate the scene. Arranged below in an original typology boldly
designed to cover 64 International Unions and 35,000 or so local unions, the
typology obviously cannot exhaust all the variations extant. However, it does
highlight major variations, and, in the absence of any alternative scheme,
should help advance study of the subject. Better yet, it invites
attention to a fourth model (the F-I-S-T variation) , one without an earthly
counterpart to date, an ideal type of union and local that beckons from the
horizon.
The first
contemporary model, which I call Cyber Naught, involves minimum employ
of computer potentialities. Cyber Naught unions and locals generally hesitate
to go beyond staid reliance on computer-based bookkeeping. They pretend little
has changed around them, deny being under pressure to modernize their use of
computers, and essentially sleepwalk through time. Their members,
although grievously under-served by the absence of progressive computer uses,
seem only to shrug and focus their attention elsewhere, a dereliction of
responsibility that serves no one well.
The second model,
Cyber Drift, has labor organizations move spastically first in this
direction where computer uses are concerned, and then that, unable to maturely
guide their own efforts. Crippled by unthinking adaptation of incompatible, if
glitzy and trendy equipment and software , Cyber Drift unions and locals
disappoint unionists eager to believe Labor has much to gain from computer
use. They remind one of the drunk found searching under a lamp post for
his keys because of its light overhead, and not because that is where he thinks
he may have dropped them.
The third model,
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, the
CyberUnion, today only an alluring distant possibility. Unless and until
Cyber Gain organizations are succeeded by the CyberUnion variety, Organized
labor will continue to sub-uptimize its possibilities here, and remain far more
vulnerable than is necessary or tenable.
1. Ostrich
Approach. Where the internal operations of a union are concerned, Cyber
Naught labor 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. Labor officials and members settle for inertia
and quietism Sť much as if Toffler's 1970 classic, Future Shock, had not
been written, complete with its urgings that the Labor Movement pioneer in the
use of information technology breakthroughs. (Toffler)
The problem here
appears especially rooted in conceptual inertia: Out-dated habits of mind have
far too many Cyber Naught labor 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. Intent primarily
on keeping things (deceptively) calm, Cyber Naught leaders patch over
organizational ills with cosmetic "band-aids," and leave in their
wake fatally wounded unions and locals.
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.
The problem here
appears especially rooted in gullibility: Susceptibility to the siren song of
scruple-less vendors has far too many Cyber Drift labor leaders preferring
flattery to function, promises to results, and glossy brochures to demonstrated
rewards. They want a future like that one vendors rapturously portray, and
immediately, regardless of what hardware or software infrastructure they have
previously invested in. They treat unionism as their playground, and act as
costly mis-managers of trust. Intent primarily on keeping things hoping,
Cyber Drift leaders substitute dust raising for ground breaking, and leave in
their wake one heck of a mess.
3. Labor's Best
Hope - for the Moment. In contrast with Cyber Naught and Cyber Drift types,
Cyber Gain unions and locals make much today of computer possibilities. Their
use of computers can be creative (though as I shall argue later, it still does
not go nearly far enough). Officers, staffers, and activists alike appreciate
how much can be done, and enjoy adapting gains made elsewhere in and outside of
Labor.
However, before too
glowing an impression is given, it should be noted that Cyber Gain unions and
locals have many telling weaknesses. These unions and locals commonly 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." Their messages are
characteristically uni-directional, going only from top to bottom. They guard
the e-mail addresses of leaders lest members attempt to finesse the hierarchy
and go directly to the top. They frown on un-moderated chatrooms and
bulletin boards, lest matters get "out of control" (read - the
officers come under attack).
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 all of the parties, rather than only of some, rather
than promote passivity. Transactional computer approaches
would take American Labor back many decades to its heady and turbulent origins
in open debate forums, when the likes of Gompers, Green, Murray, Carey,
Reuther, and other now legendary pioneers in democratic unionism gave as good
as they got on the convention floor in illuminating debate with the Loyal
Opposition. Unionism as a supportive host for bold new ideas, for the
give-and-take of alternative plans, values, and visions - this gets to the
heart of the transactional approach to computer-aided communications.
While the Cyber
Gain model is clearly superior to Cyber Naught and Cyber Drift options, it will
not suffice. While it rebuilds, it does not adequately renew. By failing to
take the potential of transactional computerization 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 enable Labor to do the job
necessary if the Movement is to survive and thrive.
V. Getting to a
Third Wave CyberUnion F-I-S-T Model . If Labor is to reinvent itself as
rapidly, as thoroughly, and as meaningfully as appears necessary, a new model
appears necessary. Specifically, early 21st century unions might well
experiment with an ambitious and creative alternative that incorporates four
matters newly enhanced by computer uses - namely, futuristics, innovations,
services, and labor traditions (F-I-S-T).
Futuristics would have CyberUnions employ all of the tools of forecasting to
help get clues to where relevant industries are heading, why, and what Labor
might do about it. Forecasts would scrutinize demographic changes in the
labor force the union and/or local draws on, and help develop plans that get
out ahead of shifts. Forecasts would enable Labor to test the warring claims
of antagonists in public debates that beckon for Labor's taking of sides, as in
the Global Warming or Energy embroilment. Above all, forecasts would
enable unions and locals to better anticipate training upgrades for members,
and continue thereby to distinguish dues-payers from less well-prepared
competitors.
Innovations would have CyberUnions trying this,
that, and the other thing in a responsible and earnestly assessed pursuit of
ever better processes, things, services, and so on. The union or local
would gain a proud reputation for early adoption of cutting edge items, and
members would look to the organization for assessments and advice when
considering testing a novel option themselves. Above all, innovations
would mark the CyberUnion as forward-looking, self-confident, and thereby worth
the membership of all intent on making, rather than inheriting a future.
Services refers to the ability of CyberUnions to use computer power to
vastly enhance 101 old, and another 101 new services of keen value to the
membership. Typical would be arranging for the sale of computers and
software at great discount, thanks to the volume buying Labor can arrange (as
demonstrated already in Sweden, Norway, and elsewhere). Another service might
have a local facilitate car-pooling, using a listserve of members sorted by zip
code. Or arrange for swap meets in cyberspace, as managed (and policed)
by a local.
Traditions refer to the dedication of CyberUnions to honoring the culture
and lore of a union and/or local. Every effort might be made to create an
oral and video record of the reminiscences of older members, complete with
archival storage. The history of the organization might be recreated by actors
and actresses, videotaped, and placed permanently on the Web site. Many
relevant labor songs, anecdotes, and historic speeches might be added to the
site, along with streaming video celebrations of special days and events in the
organization's past,
Labor urgently
needs the computer-aided rewards possible from reliable forecasting. From
innovations, such as computer data mining. From computer-based services, such
as p-to-p software dedicated to meeting Labor's group ware needs. And from the
computer-aided celebration of traditions, as in the production of inter-active
software or CDs rich with labor history material. Together, these four
items (F-I-S-T) just might help provide Labor go beyond its necessary, but
insufficient Cyber Gain strengths. (Shostak: 1999)
Vl. Agents of
Change: Labor's Digerati. Pivotal here is the possible rise to power soon
of Labor's own self-schooled computer enthusiasts, or, by their jargon title,
Labor's digerati. Made up of rank-and-filers of all ages (though commonly under
40), both genders (with far more women than might be expected), all races
(though with far fewer people of color than desirable), and found everywhere
(including isolated rural areas), the digerati are Labor's secret weapon.
Although weakened today by a lack of consciousness of kind, effective
networking, and charismatic leadership, this cadre could soon prove the
critical ingredient in assuring Labor's revival.
Many of the
digerati envision using computers that will provide unprecedented access of
everyone in Labor to everyone else ... officers to members, members to
officers. unionists to non-unionists, and vice versa. Aware of the likely
arrival soon of computer "wearables," empowering unionists as never
before, some of the digerati are busy even now planning to make the most of
this. They salute the potential of transactional computer use, and judge it
mutually beneficial and empowering to all the parties.
On the digerati
agenda is promotion of the rapid polling of the membership. Spotlighting
computer-use models worth emulating, in or outside of Labor's world. Putting
electronic libraries at a unionist's beck and call, along with valuable
arbitration, grievance, and mediation material. Offering open chat rooms and
bulletin boards, and nurturing the creation of a High Tech electronic (virtual)
"community" to bolster High Touch solidarity.
As if this was not
enough, the vision of many of Labor's digerati includes a quantum increase soon
in the collective intelligence and cooperation among "global village"
unionists. They would pursue unprecedented cooperation across national borders,
and expect to mount effective counters to transnational corporate crimes.
Forward thinking
and visionary, these techno-savvy men and women have a hefty dose of
indefatigable assurance and optimism. Unlike many of their peers, their
expectations concerning the renewing of Organized Labor are almost without
limits. Believing that what they do matters, and graced by a strong sense of
purpose, their influence may soon oar ... and, for Labor's sake, one can only
hope it does.
Guided by this
growing cadre, Labor can soon learn more about the F-I-S-T model and make it
its own. This should enable Labor to invigorate the membership. Draw in
new members. Intimidate opponents. Intrigue vote-seekers. And in 101 other
valuable ways, meet the very high aspirations union "netizens"
increasingly have for the Labor Movement.
Brief Cautionary
Note. With her characteristic revealing sarcasm, Columnist
Maureen Dowd zings our breathless insistence on getting trivial matters from
computers. She links this silliness to America's hubris, a disease which
arguably more than any other threatens to bring our nation down: "We will guarantee
broadband and fast connections to the Internet. We will not permit anybody,
anywhere, at any time to threaten the delivery of all the necessities to
computers, Palm Pilots and BlackBerrys: stock quotes, sports scores, real
estate listings, epicurean.com recipes, porn. (O.K., so we didn't invent
porn.)" (Dowd)
Taking Dowd's sharp
jibe to heart, the lesson for Labor would seem to be this: None of the advances
possible in hardware and software will suffice unless there are commensurate
advances in "thoughtware." That is, unless the quality of
thinking and imagining in Labor circles soars alongside of market-driven
advances in machines and computer code, Organized Labor will not profit as it
should - and must. Computers only deliver messages, and at
present, do not create them or vouch for their merit: The quality of Labor's
messages remains far more important than the message infrastructure ...
although proponents like this writer believe that when the F-I-S-T model is
employed, the quality of thought and vision necessarily soars.
Summary: Labor
Union Prospects? American Labor 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). While computerization cannot "rescue" Labor,
unless Organized Labor soon makes the most creative possible use of it, Labor
probably cannot be rescued.
At least where four
areas of advancement are concerned - alliance-building, communications,
organizing (external/internal), and staff development - Labor would seem well
on its way. Provided, that is, that Labor remembers "high tech"
computerization works best when aiding such "high touch" efforts as
"one-on-one" organizing, "shoe leather" vote-getting,
"button hole" lobbying for labor law reform, and so on Sť the
humanizing dimensions of unionism that constitute its unique "value
added" dimension.
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 - Labor has several available remedies to employ,
and other reforms it can readily create and apply. Alert to advances that other similarly challenged organizations -
businesses, NGOs, schools, etc. - are busy making in their use of computer
power, Labor can adapt reforms pioneered elsewhere (as explained, for example,
in current issues of Business 2.0, FAST COMPANY, etc.).
Building on this
foundation, early in the 21st century a new model of computer-based unionism -
one celebrating the F-I-S-T model - may help Labor finally make of computer use
all that has always been possible in this revolutionary communications mode. At that time, and
not until then, Organized Labor will once again be a player of significance,
and its power and Vision will have all respectfully acknowledge that - in
the richest possible sense of the term - Labor "computes."
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 Labor Studies (Silver Springs, MD.), I have long tracked the
complex pattern of union uses of computer power (Shostak; 1991). Most
recently, I attended LaborTech 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 Labor through Computer Technology, and I
am busy now preparing a successor (Manual-like) volume for publication in 2001
(Shostak; 1999). In 2000 I co-produced a 30-minute VHS film, "Labor
Computes: Union People, Computer Power," made up of pithy interviews with
Labor digerati types (copies available on request). Naturally, I participate in
various Labor-oriented list serves, maintain one of my own (www.cyberunions.net), and avidly "surf" both the literature and the Internet
(with its estimated six billion pages) for relevant material. (2)
Notes
1. Typical of
academic neglect here is the fact that only one page of the 127 pages in nine
articles commissioned for the Journal of Labor Studies' Spring, 2001,
two-part exploration of the future of private sector unionism even touched on
this significant possibility. (Townsend, Demarie, Hendrickson; p.285).
The literature of the democratic left (Dissent, Mother Jones,
The Nation, Z, etc.) is similarly bereft of attention to what is
arguably the most far-reaching change in Labor in many decades.
2. I plan now to
devote a sabbatical year (2002) to tracking in the field new uses unionists are
making of IT in general, and computer power in particular. In this connection,
I welcome leads to sites I should visit and people I should interview
(shostaka@drexel.edu).
References
Ante, Spencer E.
"In Search of the Net's Next Big Thing." Business Week (March
26, 2001)140-141.
Baker, Stephen.
"A Net Not made in America." Business Week (March 26,
2001)124.
Dowd, Maureen.
"Drill, Grill, and Chill." New York Times, May 20, 2001.
p.WK-17.
Ellis, John.
"Grove makes It Possible to Light Up the Edge." FAST COMPANY,
May, 2001. p. 101.
Fiorito, Jack, Paul
Jarley, John Thomas Delaney, and Robert W. Kolodinsky. "Unions and
Information technology: from Luddites to CyberUnions?" Labor Studies
Journal, 24 (Winter 2000) 3-34.
Freeman, Richard
and Wayne Diamond, as quoted in Robert Taylor, "Trade Unions: Workers
Unite on the Internet," Financial Times, May 11, 2001.
Gomes, Lee.
"P-to-P, B-to-B -- R.I.P?" Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2001.
pp.B-1, B-4.
Gunther, Marc.
"Wireless E-mail." FORTUNE (March 19, 2001): p.76.
Katz, Jon.
Geeks. New York: Villard, 2000.
Lazarovici,
Laureen. "Cyber Drives: Organizing, Bargaining, and Mobilizing."
America@Work, March, 2001. p. 9.
Lee, Eric. The
Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism. Chicago: Pluto
Press, 1997.
Levy, Steven.
"Bill Gates Says, Take this Tablet." Newsweek, April
30, 2001. p. 67.
Levy, Steven.
How the Code Rebels Beat the Government - Saving Privacy in the Digital Age.
New York: Viking, 2000.
Ozzie, Ray, as
quoted in Bill Green, "Jazzed about Work," FAST COMPANY, May,
2001. p.194.
Shostak, Arthur B.
Robust Unionism: Innovations in the Labor Movement. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press,
1991.
Shostak, Arthur B.
CyberUnion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology. Armonk, NY:
M.E.Sharpe, 1999.
Toffler, Alvin.
Future Shock. New York: Bantam,1970: p.452, 480-483.
Townsend, Anthony,
Samuel M. Demarie, and Anthony R. Hendrickson. "Information Technology,
Unions, and New Organization: Challenges and Opportunities for Union
Survival." Journal of Labor Research XXII (Spring 2001): 275-286.
Wieffering, Eric
and Tony Kennedy. "Search Raises Privacy Issues." Star Tribune,
(Minn., MN), February 8, 2000. Pp.1, 3.
--
Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Department of
Culture and Communications, Drexel University, Phila., PA, 19104; 215-895-2466;
fax 610-668-2727.
email:
SHOSTAKA@drexel.edu
http://www.futureshaping.com/shostak/
"This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know
what to do with it." Ralph Waldo Emerson