The Cyberunion Handbook: Transforming Labor Through Computer Technology

384 Pages·2002·1.91 MB·English

by  Arthur B. Shostak

Advance Responses to
The CyberUnion Handbook:
Transforming Labor Through Computer Technology*
“An interesting, insightful, and very important collection of essays providing the how-
to that will bring labor unions into the information age. This unique work is must
reading for unionists and for managers, academicians, and others who are concerned
about how technological change will affect organized labor.”
—James T. Bennett, Editor, Journal of Labor Research
“This book . . . is a road map for workers, providing resistance and organizing strate-
gies for workers in the burgeoning yet largely unorganized new industries. The book
documents creative methods of building and expanding workplace power.”
—Immanuel Ness, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
“A practical, as well as visionary, survey of how unions can employ new technologies
to accomplish their ongoing mission of social justice and worker empowerment. Con-
tributors address not only the potential, but also the pitfalls of the introduction and
uses of new communications and other digital technologies, and real world solutions
to problems unions are likely to encounter when doing so. . . . Every local, central and
state labor body, and national union should run right out (or log on) to obtain a copy.”
—Michael Eisenscher, Director of Organizational Development,
University Council at the University of California,
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
“This handbook will be a valuable aid to others in the Labor Movement who want to
seize the opportunities that the Internet offers.”
—James H. Rankin, International President, Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics,
and Allied Workers International Union, AFL-CIO
“Those of us who attempt to redesign our unions, in the interest of our members, have
a need for the expertise contained in this book. . . . This work can become the launch-
ing pad for the efforts of concerned members to regain control of their organizations.”
—Tom Crofton, Wisconsin Carpenters for a Democratic Union UBC LU 314
“Upbeat, powerful, and practical. . . . This handbook provides helpful tips and tricks
for labor on e-mail, computers, computing, the Web and the Internet.”
—Dan Cornfield, Editor, Work and Occupations,
and Vanderbilt University
“The CyberUnion Handbook is rich with no-nonsense, concise, easy-to-process
guidance for those union activists among us who are ready to ‘ride the third wave’ into
the future.”
—Sharon R. Pinnock, Labor Futurist and
Director of Membership and Organization,
American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE, AFL-CIO
*No necessary endorsement is implied by any of the organizations mentioned.
They are cited for identification purposes only.
2 • PART TITLE
“Just as unionism is more than simply sending someone a union card, cyberunionism
requires thought, effort, and heart to accommodate the tech world and the human
world. [The CyberUnion Handbook] makes the journey less scary by providing a
much-needed road map.”
—Randy Perreira, Deputy Executive Director, and
Randy Kusaka, Public Information Officer,
Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO
“The labor movement is positioned to play a critical role in assuring that the ‘infor-
mation superhighway’ does not deepen the existing social inequality by creating a
rich and a poor side of the highway. To play this role, we need to understand the
power of the emerging new technology and determine how to make its power avail-
able to workers. This book opens the door to that understanding in a significant way.”
—Gene Bruskin, Secretary Treasurer, Food and Allied Service Trades, AFL-CIO
“Shostak goes way beyond talking about the future of labor unions—to give specific
tools and strategies for achieving labor’s aims. This is a cyber-guidebook interwoven
with compelling personal essays by people on the front lines. The book is useful [and]
needed.”
—Ross Koppel, University of Pennsylvania and The Social Research Corporation
“While the opportunities for labor organization are great, the political economy that
has historically disenfranchised workers and opposed unions remains unchanged. . . .
The challenge remains to move analysis and response to communication and Internet
technology beyond The Who’s adage of ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,’ to
a truly empowering use of technology for the poor, people of color, and the working
class. The CyberUnion Handbook begins that process. The question is whether orga-
nized labor can move the process from here.”
—Art Jipson, University of Dayton
“Provides the opportunity for the trade union activist to become empowered through
the ability to network with brothers and sisters literally around the globe. . . . In short,
here is an opportunity to take advantage of computer power for the advancement of
working people.”
—Alice Hoffman, Pennsylvania State University
and Past President of the Pennsylvania Labor History Society
“The question is how can we make the technology, which we will all come to use, as
much like face-to-face contact as possible? . . . This book provides some practical
answers that are specifically addressed to the needs of the labor community.”
—Michael F. Miller, Information Systems Manager,
Hawaii Government Employees Association
THE
CYBERUNION
HANDBOOK
ISSUES IN WORK AND HUMAN RESOURCES
Daniel J.B. Mitchell, Series Editor
BEYOND UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Leo Troy
CYBERUNION
Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology
Arthur B. Shostak
WORKING IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Policies for Economic Growth Through Training,
Opportunity, and Education
David L. Levine
INCOME INEQUALITY IN AMERICA
An Analysis of Trends
Paul Ryscavage
HARD LABOR
Poor Women and Work in the Post-Welfare Era
Joel F. Handler and Lucie White
NONUNION EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION
History, Contemporary Practice, and Policy
Bruce E. Kaufman and Daphne Gottlieb Taras, editors
LABOR REGULATION IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY
George Tsogas
FAMILY LEAVE POLICY
The Political Economy of Work and Family in America
Steven K. Wisensale
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
The Experience of Eight States
Joyce M. Najita and James L. Stern, editors
PAYING FOR PERFORMANCE
An International Comparison
Michelle Brown, editor
THE FUTURE OF PRIVATE SECTOR UNIONISM IN
THE UNITED STATES
James T. Bennett and Bruce E. Kaufman, editors
THE CYBERUNION HANDBOOK
Transforming Labor Through Computer Technology
Arthur B. Shostak, editor
THE
CYBERUNION
HANDBOOK
TRANSFORMING LABOR
THROUGH COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
Edited by
Arthur B. Shostak
M.E.Sharpe
Armonk, New York
London, England
Copyright © 2002 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the publisher, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.,
80 Business Park Drive, Armonk, New York 10504.
The following permissions are acknowledged:
Chapter 4: “Cyber Drives: Organizing, Bargaining, and Mobilizing—Downloading
‘E-Strategies’ for 21st-century Union Action,” Laureen Lazarovici. © 2001 by AFL-CIO.
Reprinted with permission from the AFL-CIO leadership magazine,
Dedicated to the memory of two labor educator friends—Russ Allen and Hy
Kornbluh—and other recently departed brothers and sisters who sought all
their lives to help achieve the superior quality of trade unionism our country
so urgently needs.
What does labor want?
We want more schoolhouses and less jails;
more books and less arsenals;
more learning and less vice;
more leisure and less greed;
more justice and less revenge;
in fact, more of the opportunities
to cultivate our better natures,
to make manhood more noble,
womanhood more beautiful,
and childhood more happy and bright.
—Samuel Gompers: 1850–1924;
AFL president (1886–1924)
Dedicated as well to the contributors to this handbook, union activists who
have picked up the torch and demonstrated 24/7 their intention to use com-
puter power to move labor closer to the goals that inspired Samuel Gompers,
Russ Allen, Hy Kornbluh, and all the other unionists we miss and honor.
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Contents
Notes on URLs
Series Editor’s Foreword • Daniel J.B. Mitchell xiv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxiii
INTRODUCTION 3
1. Cyber Birth: The Struggles of a Local Going Online •
Steven J. Lelinski 10
2. On the Border of CyberUnionism: Lessons from Local 1613 •
Joseph N. Dassaro 13
3. Technology Evens the Playing Field • Lawrence R. Smoot, Jr. 23
I. SURVEYING THE FIELD 27
4. Cyber Drives: Organizing, Bargaining, and Mobilizing—
Downloading “E-Strategies” for 21st-century Union Action •
Laureen Lazarovici 29
5. Info Zap! PDAs in the Hands of a Union Activist • Karin Hart 35
6. Corporate Surveillance: Monitoring Your Monitor • Nancy Bupp 39
7. What Unions Can Learn from Nonprofits About Using
the Internet • Mark Friedman 42
ix