Third Wave CyberUnions - or No Unions (cont.)

A Division of the House

Three types of unions are evident today vis-a-vis uses made of computers. The first, which I call Cyber Naught unionism, involves a bare minimum employ of computer potentialities. It is generally restricted to staid reliance on a mainframe for bookkeeping of dues and benefits data. The second, Cyber Drift unionism, moves spastically first in this direction, and then that one, lacking any rhyme or reason in its rudderless efforts. It stands out in its combination of aimlessness with thoughtlessness. The third, Cyber Gain unionism, is a proud model to aspire to, and one which sets the stage for the emergence soon of its 21st century successor, Cyber Unionism.

Cyber Naught unions and locals seek to preserve and persist, rather than update or innovate. Where computers are concerned, they employ them only or primarily to satisfy traditional business needs, as in accounting and bookkeeping (dues and benefit records; payroll data; etc.). They are content to use data processing systems to keep track of things and to codify standard business practices. Most are indifferent (the others, hostile) to what upgrades here might otherwise do to support people, plans, and progress .

The issue, then, is not as simple as whether or not a union or local uses computers: Rather, the issue is why and how. Put starkly, Cyber Naught unions and locals use computers to get through the day, and do so in as flat and uninspired a way as is possible. Officials settle for inertia and quietism.

Much of the problem is rooted in conceptual inertia: Out-dated habits of mind have far too many of these labor leaders preferring form to function, protocol to results, and rhetoric to risk-taking. This is not only about failings of intellect; it is also about failings of the spirit. For if, as Orwell warned, poverty annihilates the future, so also in its own way does poverty of vision.

Cyber Naught power-holders want the future to be like the past, only more so. They treat unionism as if it can only be a passive institution, and they act as a deadening hand on change. In consequence, their unions and locals sleep-walk when they might stride, and they remain vulnerable in ways they hardly realize.

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