Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 32 Official Organ of LaborNet 24 September 1999  

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Guest Report

Eric Lee's Internet Ashes


At first, you'd think that the Australian and British trade union movements would be a lot more similar than they are. And there probably are lots of similarities - but not when it comes to using the Internet.

I was struck by this today when visiting the websites of the Trades Union Congress here and the Australian Council of Trade Unions there.

The ACTU has been very active in the campaign in support of the people of East Timor. They have organised demonstrations and other actions and their website reflects this. Together with other groups, they have launched a special website called "Free East Timor Now!" which is rich in daily content and shows a campaigning spirit.

The work of the Australian unions on the web concerning East Timor has been a model. They have reacted quickly, published tons of information, and done what trade unionists should do in a situation like this.

The British labour movement hasn't reacted with the same vigour, but perhaps that is to be expected as East Timor is very far away. But my intention is not to criticize the TUC on this issue.

This week the TUC is holding its annual congress in Brighton. Media coverage is intensive, even on the web. The BBC website is full of daily articles about the congress with colour photos. But what does the TUC website offer?

When you first visit the site, you'll probably miss this, but there is a little link on the very top of the front page that says "TUC Congress 1999". Not very exciting text, but let's give them a chance. So you click on the link. And up comes a screen, just like every other page in the TUC site, that reads: "Congress Agenda -Motions and Nominations; General Council Report 1999; Releases; Speeches."

Yawn.

I clicked on "Speeches", hoping for at least a list of catchy or informative titles, something to convey some of the flavour of the Congress. There are 12 links here and they all have titles like "Bill Morris - Employment Law - Speech by Bill Morris made at Congress 1999". They're listed in alphabetical order by the speakers' first names, so Bill Morris gets to be first and Stephen Byers comes last. (Where's Tony Blair? Listed under "r" because he's the Rt Hon. Tony Blair.)

That's pretty exciting, isn't it? Gives you a real feel for what's happening. Makes you want to read more, right? Doesn't anyone at the TUC ever read a newspaper? Can you imagine a newspaper with headlines like this, and the articles appearing in alphabetical order?

It goes without saying that things like photos, audio files, video, etc. are nowhere to be found on the TUC's site.

The TUC is not new to using the Internet. It was one of the first national trade union centres to create a website. And its website was, in its time, fairly sophisticated. It allowed staffers throughout the TUC to add pages to their sections of the site while most other trade union sites had (and still have) a webmaster who does all the work. But today its website remains frozen in time, a fossilized relic of the early days of computer networking.

It's not only the websites that reflect the differences between the two labour movements. In Australia, the unions are grappling with the question of Internet access for members. The ACTU negotiated a controversial deal with a private company to provide inexpensive computers and Internet access. Their focus groups show them that between 300,000 - 500,000 workers are likely to sign up for the deal.

Opponents claim that the unions are giving up control of the web portals to which those who've signed up for the deal will be brought. Leading the opposition is the New South Wales Labour Council which produces the terrific weekly online newsletter, Workers Online.

I'm not sure who's right and who's wrong in Australia. But I envy trade unionists whose movement actually discusses issues like this and tries to do something about them. The ACTU's leading body recently had a long and intensive discussion about the problem of Internet access for working people. I doubt that Internet access is high on the agenda of the TUC General Council.

The Australian unions are hardly perfect, even when it comes to working with the Internet. But with their rapid response on the web to the crisis in East Timor, their pioneering weekly Workers Online, and their ongoing debate on how to get workers on the net, they provide an example of best practice which British unions would do well to emulate.


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*    Visit Eric Lee's Labourstart

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 32 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: His Daily Fix
Graham Richardson talks of his transition from national politics to talkback radio and his ongoing jobs as a fixer.
*
*  Politics: Requiem to the Third Way
The swing to Labor in Victoria shows clearly that once again Australian voters have rejected economic rationalism. The result, and the reasons for it, should worry John Howard.
*
*  International: A Common Struggle for Freedom
It may not get the headlines, but Western Sahara has some chilling similarities with East Timor.
*
*  Unions: Woolscour Workers say No to Peter Reith
Workers at Canobolas Wooltopping - a woolscour plant near Orange, in central west New South Wales, have just sent a message to Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith: thanks, but no thanks.
*
*  Legal: Outlawed Acts of Consicence
The recent boycotts in support of East Timorese indepndence highlights the extremism of Reith's second wave.
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*  History: Was Manning Clark A True Believer
A Canberra history conference shines the spotlight on Australia's most famous historian.
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*  Review: Paranoid Echoes
The calls to examine the Australian�Soviet documents in the Moscow Literary archives have grown in volume over the past year.
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*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
The latest issue of Labour Review - a resource for officals and students.
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*  Satire: Kennett Boosts Chances: Two More Independents Dead
Caretaker Premier Jeff Kennett today admitted that voters perceived him as arrogant and out of touch, but insisted that they were wrong.
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News
»  Public Servants Seek Leave For Timor
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»  Goodbye Green Bans - Dumped by the Wave
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»  Government Rules Nobble Public Sector
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»  ACTU Pushes On With Privatised Portal
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»  Powerful New Years Eve Deal for TransGrid
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»  Banks Grill Staff on New Fees
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»  Off the Rails - Workers Gagged
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»  Staff Frustration Boils Over at Sydney Water
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»  Kennett Nose-Dive: Botsman Picks It
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»  Academics Fail Non-Union Deal
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»  Nike in Indonesia: Military Employed to Intimidate Workers
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»  The Laugh�s On Barry
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Piers Watch
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Letters to the editor
»  Freeloader Push on Track
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»  It's Worse in Detroit
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»  Working Class Aesthetics
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»  WorkCover Inspectors: Shaw Replies
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