Despite international labour federations and a greater ease of mobility around the world, union branches still often feel isolated from one another. Democratic and empowering, the Internet is now providing a wholly new framework for communication, policy-making and collective action. Written by a leading authority on labour and information technology, this book covers the background to and the politics of this electronic revolution in the labour movement. The author provides advice on cost-effective ways for unions worldwide to benefit from the innovations. He explores the ways in which unions have responded to the new technology, and covers the key features of the Internet, including e-mail, the World Wide Web, bulletin boards and user networks. No technical knowledge is required to understand the topics, and all terms are explained.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A "must read" for anyone interested in Labor & the Internet.,
By
This review is from: The Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism (Labour and Society International) (Paperback)
The book gives a great background on the Labor movements use of the Internet. I was interested because, as a member of the Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR) steering committee we have made extensive use of the Internet. We have set up a web site, an e-mail alert network, and communicate almost exclusively by e-mail. But I know very little about the history of organized labors use of the Internet. Not only does Eric's book give the essential history of Labors use of the Internet but he has an optimism about the future which we can all benefit from. He sees the opportunity for a "New Internationalism" developing because of this new technology. If labor can grab hold of this technology we can build cross border solidarity like we have never known before. I see what we at the CLR are doing as being on the cutting edge of this "New Internationalism". Most of us in the CLR are approaching this work from a little different direction (coming from the Central America Solidarity Movement) but we are moving in the same direction as the labor movement and their use of the Internet. It was interesting to see time and again the names of people we work with on a regular basis and get to know where they are coming from. Some of these people like Jagdish Parikh and Marc Belanger have extremely interesting histories in working in the labor movement and on the Internet. Reading this book gave me a much deeper appreciation of the people we work with. Much of the book focuses on concrete examples of how the labor movement uses the Internet to build a stronger and more democratic union. It is only with this technology that some things are made possible. For example, as corporations have become even more transnational there has developed a corresponding need for labor to respond internationally. You can't organize a company in one country if that company will shut down and move to another (unorganized and more repressive) country. Worker's of the world need to have the means to communicate with each other, compare notes and show solidarity. It has been prohibitively expensive to get workers in different countries to meet regularly and plan a strategy to confront multinational corporations. With the Internet workers can communicate frequently and inexpensively. There has never been a time like the present for workers to use technology to confront multi-national corporations. The labor movement is just starting to understand the potential of this technology. In addition to the above idea of online transnational company councils, we also learn about the International Labour University, an online International daily labor press, an online archive, discussion group and journal, and an Emergency Response Network (good idea huh Soren). In short this book is talking about building a "New Internationalism." I hope you will take the time to read the book for yourself. It is well worth your time.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
