By Wolfe Braude

Trade unions need to move into the internet age and train their members how to use information from the net. NALEDI has a new resource to assist. With the growth of the internet, many types of information have been moved onto the World Wide Web and are now accessible through computers. With the rise of information as a powerful tool, union negotiations could be undermined if the right information is not at hand.

Problem

Collective bargaining and other forms of wage negotiation often comprise a battle of information as well as strategies. Both parties will attempt to reject any position that cannot be substantiated by the other side. Unions however are not always able to assemble information with the level of detail needed to respond to

management positions. This is because of a range of factors, such as training and capacity, and lack of access to information or resources. This is a matter of

concern, because in most cases unions are forced to cover more ground in order to win wage negotiations. The employers sometimes also have access to specialised consultants.

In addition other factors impact on the complexity of negotiating, such as multi-year bargaining and collective bargaining. Globalisation, decentralised operations and foreign owned companies also make it harder for negotiators to gather information on the operations of the entire company. A further factor is the recent return to an emphasis on a ‘living wage’ by COSATU. This is in part a move to reduce reliance on inflation as the main guidepost to wage demands. This has meant that issues such as HIV/AIDS, affirmative action, economic growth, living conditions and cost of services have expanded the negotiating arena, requiring further research and preparation.

Skills training

Training for shop stewards and negotiators varies across COSATU affiliates, from fully-fledged in-house courses and workshops to mentorship and informal training. Most affiliates choose to also make use of the services of external, labour friendly service providers such as Ditsela, Workers College, Workers Education Project and Labour Research Service. Many institution have developed their own training programmes covering issues such as collective bargaining, wage negotiations, wage agreements, and general organisation. Such training varies in approach and depth, but is of great use to the unions, as most cannot afford to research and produce their own internal materials and courses. The problem is that not all negotiators benefit from these training drives. COSATU’s recent Education Conference proposed a review of all available COSATU affiliate training materials, in order to plan for more systematic support for union officials, and to ensure that recent changes to the workplace and economy are covered. A new shopsteward development initiative is also to be undertaken with Ditsela.

Resources

As affiliates operate in a wide variety of sectors the burdens around preparation and implementation of negotiations are very different, and the ability of affiliates to access training and information varies greatly. In instances where resources or training are not widespread, negotiators rely on their ownnetworks to source the information or strategy they require. Officials often resort to the telephone and fax as their only means of information gathering, whereas most employers have access to both the computers and the training that negotiators need. Union negotiations can be undermined if the right information is not at hand such as overall company finances, average director’s remuneration, inflation, sectoral trends, wage settlement and productivity trends, new CCMA cases, health and safety trends, and retrenchment patterns. To locate this information is often time consuming as it is fragmented, and located in dozens of different locations.

Solutions

The first issue then is to have all people dealing with negotiations trained in the use of the internet. Skills have to be upgraded and training must be further coordinated. The concept of centralised information resources has been mooted for many years within COSATU, and some good resources do exist, such as the Labour Research Service (LRS) AWARD database, which captures wage settlement trends and exact wage figures across various grades. A new resource is NALEDI’s Collective Bargaining Database project, which has established a live database on the internet that is accessible to all union negotiators. This database will capture a wide range of

relevant information, in order to provide an instant ‘one stop’ access point for union negotiators. NALEDI is currently populating the database with relevant information for it to be of use for the 2004 bargaining rounds. A limited version of the database will be ready in time for the 8th COSATU Congress. It is hoped that this resource will empower union negotiators and greatly simplify the process of gathering strategic bargaining information.

"But are unions getting connected to the Internet? Judging from the 350 web sites listed by the Institute for Global Communications's (IGC) and LaborNet, even if most of them are in North America, a move is underway. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) lists 85 union web sites. Half of the listed sites are in the US, whereas, apart from South Africa, no African or Latin American sites are mentioned. At the same time, a number of uanions and affiliated organisations are encouraging trade unions to get connected. The International Federation of Journalists, for example is taking part in a European Union initiative called Musenet aimed at assessing "the needs of European media trade unions regarding information and training related to the development of the Information Society"".http://www.connected.org

[Wolfe Braude is Senior Researcher at naledi]