Unions and Information Technology: From Luddites to Cyberunions?

Abstract

Survey data are used to examine the use of, and views about, infor mation technology (IT) among U.S. national unions. Usable responses were received from nearly two-thirds of such unions. In addition to de scriptive information regarding IT use in national unions, this paper ten tatively explores both the causes and consequences of IT use. While IT use of some sort is found to be nearly universal, there is considerable variation across unions in the use of many forms of IT (e.g., e-mail, websites, video conferences) and in the areas to which IT is applied (e.g., bargaining, organizing, communicating with current members). However, a vast majority of survey respondents feel that IT has improved service and overall efficiency at their unions, and that continued IT emphasis is critical to union success. Results show preliminary support for most hypotheses concerning possible causes and consequences of IT use by unions.

Keywords

Index Tenns: Computers Technology Union administration.

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