Technology

Unions Log In to Online Yap

By Linda Gale

A Conference on Unions and Information Technology for the Australasian Region will be held in Melbourne: November 15-17.

Unions have embarked upon increasingly sophisticated uses of Internet and email technology for a range of purposes - communication, solidarity campaigns, providing resources to members and the public, recruitment and organising. Australian unions, with a comparatively high technological base, have been in at the cutting edge.

As well as Workers Online, examples of the effective use of on-line communication by the Australian trade union movement include the development of web sites and email lists in support of the MUA during the Patrick dispute, the use of union web sites to post election campaign materials during the 1998 Federal Election, and the development of resources for schools about unions and work, hosted by the ACTU and some union web sites.

Australian unions are steadily expanding our use of web and email technology, although the range of uses and the extent to which we can keep sites updated and relevant varies. Increasingly, our members are gaining work and/or home-based Internet access, and there is a real challenge facing us to maintain a credible and effective profile for unions in this new medium.

Internationally, unions have come together in several major conferences to pool resources, expertise, ideas and enthusiasms (as well as to share problems and their potential solutions) in relation to the use of Internet and email technology for the trade union movement. Conferences have been held in Europe, Korea and the USA over the past 12 months. Unfortunately, the cost and time implications of attendance at such conferences has meant that few Australian unionists have had the opportunity to participate.

Now a group of Australian Unions have decided it's time to hold a conference on unions and the internet at this end of the globe. Unions Online - A conference on unions and information technology for the Australasian region will be held in Melbourne on November 15-17, 1999.

It is open to all unions in Australasia and the South Pacific region, and will provide a cost-effective opportunity for unions in this region to focus on our own use of Internet technology, and to improve our cooperation both in the form of solidarity campaigns and through sharing of ideas and resources.

Purpose of the Conference

The basic objectives of the conference are:

I. sharing ideas/experiences - learning from other unions and from international experience about what has been/can be done

II. building inter-union cooperation and solidarity

III. discussing political issues surrounding web and email use - can it be a democratising technology - access issues - political control over the 'line' (especially when open forums are used) - resource/staffing issues for the union movement - the role of 'webmasters' - privacy and security issues - monopolistic practices of software giants - potential for inter-union pooling of resources/effort - membership training - etc.

IV. technical skills development - both basic and higher level training sessions, running parallel to the conference program

Sponsor Unions

At the time of writing this report, the conference has received sponsorship from the AEU, FSU, CFMEU, IEU, LHMU, and AMWU. More unions are expected to formally endorse sponsorship over coming weeks.

For more information: A final conference program and registration details should be available soon. In the meantime, if you would like to be put on the mailing list for further information, just email Linda Gale at the AEU on mailto:[email protected]

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