A typology of trade union websites with evidence from Portugal and Britain

Abstract

Information and communication technologies can provide an important contribution to revitalizing trade unions, since the internet is faster, cheaper and more far-reaching than traditional communication methods. We propose a typology for analysing trade union websites, and apply this by comparing two national cases. The empirical research is limited to the websites of Portuguese and British civil service trade unions. We find that British unions take more advantage of the internet than those in Portugal; not only do they enable interactivity but above all promote the website as a space for sociability. We believe this typology opens up enhanced capacity to monitor, diachronically and synchronically, the relationship between trade unions and the internet.

Enhancing transnational labour solidarity: the unfulfilled promise of the Internet and social media

“…In doing so, we chose to prioritise analysis of the website audience rather than simply examining its features, which has been the predominant approach of industrial relations scholars (see, e.g. Rego et al ., ).…”

Unions and social media: Prospects for gender inclusion

“…Understanding how members experience new communication tools, therefore, requires knowledge of the union's internal and external context. Following Martinez Lucio (), other research by Martinez Lucio and Walker (), Panagiotopoulos () and Rego and Alves () has examined how the Internet, and more recently SM engagement, by and within unions varies substantially by country, and, as Panagiotopoulos () observes, potentially also by industry, organization and workplace context. Cockfield (), moreover, argues these technologies are not inevitably emancipatory and must be incorporated into a broader renewal strategy.…”

“…According to Upchurch and Grassman (2016), in providing '"horizontalist" forms of distributing the means of expressing and framing the discourse (p. 643)', social networking sites have the potential to challenge traditional hierarchical power relations within unions. However, as Hodder and Houghton (2015) (2012) and Rego and Alves (2014) has examined how the Internet, and more recently SM engagement, by and within unions varies substantially by country, and, as Panagiotopoulos (2012) observes, potentially also by industry, organization and workplace context. Cockfield (2005), moreover, argues these technologies are not inevitably emancipatory and must be incorporated into a broader renewal strategy.…”

Trade Unions on YouTube

“…Researchers quickly saw the potential of the Internet for mobilization; they claimed that ICT would empower the union movement (Shostack 1999) and improve ordinary union work (Diamond and Freeman 2002), and suggested that the new technology could even be used to realize the labour movement's goal of internationalism (Lee 1997). One area of study focused on trade unions and Web 1.0 and investigated how unions use home pages and what type of information they post online Rego et al 2014). Existing studies on Web 2.0 have examined trade unions and social media, with a particular focus on the potential of social media for improving the interactions between a union and its members (Panagiotopoulos 2012), facilitating transnational networks (Dahlberg-Grundberg et al 2016) and building transnational labour solidarity .…”