Can e-communication end the 'iron rule of oligarchy'? As early as 1915, Michels paints a picture of the inevitable dominance of oligarchy within trade unions: he shows many reasons why 'oligarchy' continually reasserts itself, the majority of which can be tied down to the control of the communication structures by leaders in the context of the constrained time budgets of the rank and file. Within the last fifteen years, the need to increase levels of internal democracy, representativeness and accountability within trade union organisations has emerged as a critical element within the trade union renewal thesis (Gall, 1999; Fairbrother, 1989; Heery et al, 2000). More recently, attention has also been focused on the positive role that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) might play in contributing to increased democracy (Greene et al, 2000a; Hogan and Grieco, 2000; Hogan and Greene (forthcoming), Diamond and Pullman, 2000, Lee, 1997; Fiorito et al, 2000; Fiorito, 2000; Shostak, 1999; Pliskin et al, 1997). Drawing on the central tenets of Michels' (1915) communication based thesis of oligarchy, we consider the potential of new ICTs to challenge the forces that are considered to generate and reinforce oligarchy within the trade union movement. We argue that Internet and email communication facilitate processes of distributed discourse. Such processes of distributed discourse have the potential to enforce accountability of officials, reconceptualise the meaning and domain of activism, develop communicative skills and reconfigure the time and space of trade union organisation and activism.

The work of Michels has been of central importance in the study of trade union decision-making and it is therefore useful to highlight key features of his thesis on the law of oligarchy. Michels’ thesis was developed after the study of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), which focused on the extent to which an organisation that had the extension of democracy as one its principal aims operated internally on a democratic basis. His study of voluntary organisations, including trade unions, concludes that they are dominated by small cliques or by oligarchy. Within this situation of oligarchy, ordinary members have little or no say in policy making in trade unions: policy is made by and for, the benefit of a small group of permanent officials and leaders. The development that is central to his thesis is the need for organisation. He argues that in order to achieve their aims, organisations like trade unions and political parties need to do more than attract members. They also need to operate efficiently and this inevitably means the development of some kind of organisation; the election or appointment of leaders and officials. Michels argues that leaders and officials have at their disposal a whole armoury of weapons that enables them to dominate and determine policy, irrespective of the wishes of the membership. Thus, Michels argues,

'The leaders possess many resources which give them an almost insurmountable advantage over members who try to change policies. Among their assets can be counted (a) superior knowledge, e.g. they are privy to much information which can be used to secure assent for their programme; (b) control over the formal means of communication with the membership…and (c) skill in the art of politics' (Michels, 1962: 16)

According to Michels, oligarchy is natural consequence of organisation. Hence, his statement: 'It is the organisation which gives birth to the domination of the elected over the electors, of the mandatories over the mandators, of the delegates over the delegators. Who says organisation, says oligarchy.' (Michels, 1962: 365) Michels goes further than merely indicating that policy in trade unions would be determined by an oligarchy. The oligarchy that determines policy also develops special interests and aims: 'By a universally applicable law, every organ of the collectivity, brought into existence through the need for the division of labour, creates for itself, as soon as it becomes consolidated, interests peculiar to itself' (Michels, 1962: 353). Furthermore, Michels states that these interests are always conservative, and in a given political situation these interests may dictate a defensive and even reactionary policy. Not only will these interests differ from those of the membership but the policy adopted will be the opposite of that demanded both by the rank and file and by the original aims of the association. Interestingly, Michels finds that in the trade union movement the authoritative character of the leaders and their tendency to rule democratic organisations on oligarchic lines are even more pronounced than in the political organisations. As a result, he argues that it is even easier in the trade union than in the political organisation 'for the official to initiate and to pursue a course of action disapproved of by the majority of workers they are supposed to represent' (Michels, 1962: 154)

The domination of the bureaucratic leaders is also facilitated by what Michels terms the 'incompetence of the masses'. Few members attend meetings of the organisation because 'the pulls of work, family, personal leisure and the like severely limit the actual time and physical energy which the average person may invest in membership groups' (Michels, 1962: 17). Further, few members have the level of education and general sophistication necessary to participate fully in the affairs of the organisation.

Finally, in anticipation of the argument that the capacity of members to shape collective policy and action varies over time and in different circumstances, Michels presents his portrait of oligarchy as an iron law of history:

The objective immaturity of the mass is not a mere transitory phenomenon which will disappear with the progress of democratisation au landemain du socialisme. On the contrary, it derives from the very nature of the mass as mass, for this, even when organised, suffers from an incurable incompetence for the solution of diverse problems which present themselves for solution- because the mass per se is amorphous, and therefore needs division of labour, specialisation, and guidance. (Michels, 1962: 367).

Michels has had a significant impact on writings within mainstream industrial relations and trade union studies. Certainly the tendency for the objectives of members and union leaders to diverge has been well documented and debated since then (Hyman, 1979; Lane and Roberts, 1971; Lane, 1974). In line with Michels, this is often linked to the way in which many workplace unions became increasingly bureaucratised, routinized and centralised (Fairbrother, 1989; Terry, 1993). There has been some debate however about the possibilities of challenge to oligarchy by lay members. Michels' position does not differ dramatically from that of the Webbs (Webbs, 1894 and 1920) in the identification of the disparity of outlooks between union leaders and rank and file members. However, the Webbs believed that it was possible, under specified conditions, for ordinary members to control officials, leaders and policy. Similarly, more recent research has pointed to a view that lay members can play a vital role in counteracting disparity of interests, by defining both substantive issues and the styles of behaviour of union leaders (Batstone et al, 1977; Beynon, 1973; Darlington, 1994).

However, there still remains substantial contemporary criticism of the unrepresentative nature of trade union hierarchies-in its most recent reincarnation, concerned with issues of diversity. Trade unions have continued to find difficulty in organising growth areas of the labour market and in encouraging participation of union members, especially amongst women and non-standard employees. Such deficiencies in union recruitment have significant consequences for membership retention and participation, and the reform of union bargaining agendas. That trade union decision-making structures are unrepresentative of membership diversity is widely recognised (Labour Research, 1998), and Cockburn (1995) coins the term ‘democracy deficit’ to describe the present situation within most British unions. In this regard, Healy and Kirton (2000) directly explore the relationship between positive action strategies and challenges to oligarchical tendencies within trade unions. They indicate the importance of the development of pro-active separate organising, allowing women to harness unions' resources to exercise greater representational power (2000: 357).

The relevance of Michels' thesis to the current debate regarding union democracy and the potential of new technologies, is that he clearly identifies the constraints upon members exercising control over the direction of trade union praxis, which provides a useful framework for analysis. From our discussion of Michels, we can point to four distinct 'forces' that are seen to generate oligarchy within the trade union context:

1. Inequality of knowledge (between officials and ordinary members)

2. Differential control over the means of communication

3. Time, energy and space poverty (of ordinary members)

4. Uneven distribution of communicative skill (the art of politics)

Our intention is to look at each of these forces, detailing how pre-existing modes of communication have served to reinforce oligarchy, and discuss the ways in which electronic forms of communication might challenge oligarchical tendencies. As we have argued elsewhere (Greene, Hogan and Grieco 2000) our contention is that the union movement could be making use of much more innovative inclusive and potentially effective forms of organising; most notably, through the use of ICTs. This primarily involves use of the Internet, including such features as e-mail, web sites, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and on-line application and voting mechanisms. We describe such features as E-forms of trade union activities.

In order to challenge the domination by oligarchy and indeed, one of the established pre-requisites of the union renewal thesis (Fairbrother, 1989; Gall, 1999) the need for union structures and leadership to be more accountable and more representative is highlighted. This is in order to avoid separation from members, routinisation of methods and conservatism of aims (such as is discussed by Michels). This is significant in making union agendas more representative of membership demands, particularly for those segments particularly under-represented. ICTs have the potential to refashion union democracy, reducing the distance between bureaucracy and rank and file that is so harshly criticised .

The proximity of union members to local, regional, national and international on-line trade union resources, through twenty four hour access to information technology, greatly increases the amount of people who have access to what was previously exclusive to those in the hierarchy. Current research looking at trade union education (Greene and Kirton, forthcoming) indicates the importance of gaining knowledge and information in order to more effectively bargain in the workplace. However, analysis also indicates that resource and communication constraints within pre-existing modes mean that only a limited number of union members and activists can physically attend courses (particularly low amongst women) and therefore can have access to this material, resources and training.

Websites can provide the means through which information and resources can be shared openly. At the touch of a button, the individual union member can access and marshall a range of relevant industrial relations materials which would have been almost impossible for the individual citizen to identify and collect together in the past. The proximity of rank and file union members to official resources is altered by this new electronically created possibility. While the site has now been changed significantly, an example of the potential openness of the Internet could be found at the old TUC site entitled ‘The TUC Virtual Building’. The site provided ready access to a wealth of current and archived industrial relations materials and furthermore, the TUC moved with a statement of openness on access to and circulation of its materials, recognising that imposing copyright restrictions (such as would have existed in a normative sense within conventional communication modes) necessarily reduces circulation. It is interesting to compare such statements of openness with the statement of copyright ownership in existence on the current version of the site and to note other examples where trade unions have moved in the opposite direction, from less to more open access, such as the TGWU (Exhibit A).

E-forms also allow for the possibility of imposing transparency on the use of information by increasing transparency of the behaviour of union officials to the union membership and enabling an independent assessment of performance of officials, in a manner that was never previously possible. By allowing for the rapid and low cost collation of information, e-forms of communication allow actors to trace the points of origin and moments of translation and distortion as particular narratives pass across interfaces. This is significant not only in tracing the violation of ideal speech, but also in showing the paths of linkage which are travelled upon in the process of constructing power discourses. As such, electronic communication modes are ideally suited to providing a topography of truth distortion. Here, a record of misbehaviour can be highlighted, which might allow for the identification and punishment of those actors who seek to distort. Perhaps more importantly, though, a map of information flows can be drawn, which in turn could provide a means by which to chart blockages and distortions, so as to allow the more effective navigation of the communicative space. Such transparency can be facilitated through the use of intelligent auditing and search functions. Such technology is already used by the US electorate and pressure groups in the monitoring of voting records and could be used by individual union members or groups of members to muster and manage the performance profiles of key organisational actors and activities, well beyond the traditional surveillance capacity and skills of union membership. Examples from websites can be found in Exhibit B.

The importance of archiving ability provided by the new information technologies is also highlighted. Within the new E-forms, there are some important tools for maintaining continuities and ensuring that histories do not get lost or go missing. Through a well constructed archive, rank and file members can trace and track through the unfolding of events; assessing the activities of the leadership over time, and preventing external agencies from breaking their history by disrupting the social relationships which constitute union solidarity. It is as repositories of collective memory that unions can give shape to conceptions of the past, present and future and in doing so construct sustainable worker identity. Cyber-unionism thus has the potential to alter the bargaining positions of ordinary union members in respect of union leadership. We suggest that the balloting and auditing capabilities of new technology can provide for the intelligent identification of options: it becomes more possible to measure the preferences of memberships and to fine tune policy to meet these requirements through the use of electronic ballots with their lower administrative costs and immediacy of count. This last understanding raises the overall question of the relationship between technology and trade union democracy: the information equity which can now be practiced as part of daily trade unionism enables more informed and detailed choices to be made by the rank and file membership. In essence, e-forms can facilitate more two-way processes of communciation between union leaders and ordinary members (Darlington, 1994).

As a case example of a union website, the original Unison website encouraged their membership to feedback views on the shape of the web site (Exhibit B). Exactly the same feedback tools could be used in gaining membership feedback on policy, regulations and bargaining actions. In addition, UNISON originally moved with a multiple author, multiple entries approach to the structure of its web site. Linking to the importance of factional interest groups and separate organising in order to challenge oligarchical tendencies (Healy and Kirton, 2000), there is an attempt within the current Unison site to make sure that different interests get covered within its organisation. UNISON has ensured that self-organised groups, representing the diversity of membership (lesbian and gay members, black workers, disabled workers) are also entitled to web space and presence.

Eforms allow the time and space considerations of trade union participation and activism to be reconfigured. Agencies and agents who were traditionally separated from collective organisation and solidarity by the physical barriers of distance are now highly proximate electronically- they are in daily reach and range of one another with important consequences for mobilisation and enhanced solidarity.

This has particular consequences for women trade union members and those on non-standard contracts (commonly those workers outside of the traditional full time, male stereotype of the trade union member). Reconsidering Michels', it is obvious that those 'pulls of work, family and leisure' as competing forces for attention to trade union activities, are exacerbated for women members. Women trade union members are commonly found to have much lower participation rates than men, additionally, trade union hierarchies (those who form the oligarchy in Michels' terms) are typically male dominated. Family responsibilities are key here and studies indicate that women who do participate tend to be ‘atypical’, meaning predominantly single and childless women, who are most able to give the necessary time, effort and commitment (Kirton and Healy, 1999). Traditional union activities such as meetings, continue to be held at times and in locations, which make it extremely difficult for women or those working non-standard hours to attend, and continue to reinforce a traditional stereotype of the union activist and of bargaining agendas. E-forms could better enable increased participation and activism among women and non-standard employees. Twenty four hour access to the Internet site better enables women who are 'time poor' to rapidly view ‘recruitment web pages’ and to weigh the advantages of union membership. Examples of websites facilitating activism and participation across very dispersed membership bases such as UCATT provide useful models which could be utilised to enhance the collective strength of members unable to participate in conventional union activities (Exhibit C). With reference to separate organising, and particularly in the case of women, Healy and Kirton (2000: 356) point to the importance of developing membership constituencies for women activists. Use of the Internet and remote membership support bases could be an invaluable development in this regard.

E-forms have the potential to reintegrate work and home demands. One might reasonably assume that the power of oligarchy is probably stronger in the period when work and home are separated, because of the disintegration of enforcement and communication. Consequently, when the connections between work and home are broken, organisation and mobilisation at the rank and file level is weakened because members cannot get together without domestic sacrifice. Once the worker is isolated, negotiation and discussion space is closed. The use of ICTs brings with it the promise that one can construct the workplace discussion in the home. By taking collective decision-making processes out of the traditional physical meeting place, a safer space within which to deploy and develop communicative skills is provided. In the traditional meeting place the pressures of time mean that even the most enlightened union, committed to building confidence and giving a voice to all members, is unable to realise the aim of participation. When one adds the tendencies towards what Hyman has referred to as the bureaucracy of dependency (Hyman, 1989: 246), as manifest in the differential distribution of expertise and experience, as well as the problems associated with white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied domination, then the physical meeting place represents an unlikely arena in which a plethora of voices might be heard.

E-forms offer the potential of democratising the communication processes within unions by allowing greater numbers of people, outside of the hierarchy to get hold of information and resources, and by facilitating processes of evaluating and assessing the actions of union leaders and officials (increased accountability). However, e-forms also allow the possibility of a wider group of people being in control of the substance and the means of communication, requiring skills of communication. Meeting in virtual time and space does have the advantage that it can allow for communicative skills to be developed and confidence to be built. This is because intervention can be rehearsed in safe spaces and then delivered when the participant is confident. The speed dynamic of skill is also important. In allowing skill development to take place by small increments- i.e. online questions, statements, calls for information etc-the acceleration of information transfers become part of the up-skilling process for members and activists. What is more, every development in user-friendly technology is a contribution to communicative competence. Research in the field of gender and trade union participation has emphasised the importance of such safe spaces in which new and inexperienced members and activists can build up their confidence and skills base (Greene and Kirton, 2001, Kirton and Greene, 2000). This has for example been a major rationale for the encouragement of women-only and black-only courses. However, time and space considerations mean that those who are perhaps most time-poor, are not able to take advantage of the conventional modes of training and participation which allows them to build up confidence and gain experience. E-forms have the potential to provide extended access, such as through online training courses (Kirton and Greene, forthcoming).

This has significant consequences for facilitating the increased participation of ordinary members and enhancing activism. E-forms provide opportunities for enhanced forms of solidarity and communication. Electronic proximity enables the ready connection of those with similar interests or aims at minimal effort, and with highly distributed costs so that no one agency or agent is bearing the total cost of communication. Reviewing the Internet experience of ordinary union members in the USA, Shostak (1999) indicates the importance of the close proximity of rank and file members to official union resources offered by E-forms. The old understanding of physical proximity as a primary pre-condition for solidarity is clearly under challenge; virtual organisation is a new and important key in the process of synchronisation of political and industrial movements (Pliskin et al, 1997). Examples from union sites in the US such as the CWA, provide useful models in this regard (Exhibit D)

E-forms also make it less important to work on a permanent membership basis for many levels of solidarity actions - ties can be restored at any point through listings and social networks. The recent anti-World Bank activities have used affinity structures, meaning that groups who have internal links can provide support for one another or are able to link into hub activities through the net and on-site welcome facilities. We argue that E-forms provide the potential for extending solidarity across local, national and global arenas. Pliskin et al (1997) suggest that the Internet can enhance membership loyalty to collective action by providing for more rapid and frequent communication between leaders and those they lead. E-forms thus provide the means by which those in dispute can interact with each other to maintain solidarity, and a mechanism by which members can assert greater ownership over the cause of the dispute by allowing an open exchange of views. E-forms thus help to strengthen solidarity by attenuating the effects of spatial isolation. Hogan and Grieco (1999) also indicate the global links which can be made, pointing to the web site of the GPMU where an explicit intention is to provide a view of different modes of organising across the world and make international links between activists. Use of the Internet allows unions to highlight organisations, which support their causes and interests and vice versa through explicit links. Global visibility gave impetus to the campaign of the Liverpool Dockers, while the development of web sites such as the Cyber Picket Line (www.cf.ac.uk/ccin/union/cyberpicketline) provides a clear indication of the benefits that the web can bestow on groups with fewer resources than the big unions.

The foregoing discussion has indicated a number of areas where the use of ICTs have the potential to challenge the inevitability of oligarchy within trade union organisation. In other words, the need for organisation need not necessarily lead to oligarchy, if that organisation exists on a more distributed basis. The electronic realm provides possibilities of a more distributed form of trade union organisation. Electronic proximity facilitates the wider dissemination of information and resources, offers increased possibilities of tracking and evaluating actions of the hierarchy acting in the name of members, and potentially can offer easier participation and training opportunities to a wider group of members. Within Michels' thesis, what an activist is, was constructed within very narrow bounds, reflecting the mores, work patterns and family structures of the time. Such a construction equated activism with physical presence: at meetings, education courses, ballot boxes, and picket lines. The era of new technologies and the possibilities of new e-forms within trade union activity, forces a re-conceptualisation of the meaning and domain of activism, along with who is defined as an activist. We need to recognise the power of the remote activist, and the abilities that such remote activism has, to include far more people than conventional mechanisms.

We are not arguing however, that new ICTs offer a panacea to the particular membership recruitment, retention, and participation challenges faced by British trade unions today. It is important to recognise that we are not suggesting that unions should eschew traditional forms of activism and organising, however we are also adamant that E-forms should not be ignored, as they offer such potential benefits. Indeed we are very aware of the barriers to electronic participation and the possible dangers involved, some of which are discussed below, along with possible ways that such dangers might be overcome.

First, a new electronic realm of trade union organising is dependent on access to the technology of the majority of members, a situation which is not characteristic at the moment. In practice, the use of new technology in any extended way has been limited to those unions organising in sectors that are computer literate and which are predominantly white collar. On the other hand, it is undeniable that home computer access will increase exponentially over the next decade. Effective utilisation of E-forms at the present period in time requires unions to consider the wider context of their membership and how ICT use can be encouraged in the lower-paid sectors of the economy. There are examples of such consideration in practice. Unison for example actively encourages its membership to participate in web activity by offering free Internet services. Given the diversity of access to ICTs across the world and within national contexts, this is an initiative which clearly has the potential to make E-forms more socially inclusive, but which has not been taken up by many other unions, particularly those with predominantly blue collar membership, where perhaps the need is most acute. The International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University is committed to enabling the civic participation of socially excluded communities and individuals through ICTs, who are not able to participate fully, through lack of means, to access, understand and interpret information. Explicit links between such organisations and trade unions would be of great benefit in this endeavour.

Second, while E-forms have the potential to reconfigure the time-space dimension of trade union participation, lessons can be learnt from research conducted outside of the trade union arena. The potential which the use of ICTs offers in terms of integrating home and work life is seen as particularly positive in the area of time flexibility. Research in the home tele-working area (Bryant, 2000; McLaughlin, 1999) and distance and electronic education area (Sadler-Smith et al, 2000) indicates similar concerns for time flexibility: the use of new ICTs is felt to allow better reconciliation of unpaid and paid demands on time and energy, and to give the individual more overall flexibility over time, place and pace. We have made similar assertions about the possibility of E-forms to enhance participation and activism of a wider group of union members. However, there are still dangers associated with this reconfiguration of the home-work interface. Bryant (2000) found that paradoxically, women homeworkers did not find it easier to balance home and work responsibilities and indeed found their days extended as they struggled to fit heavy work demands around heavy family demands. Recent research into the first TUC online women's education course (Kirton and Greene, forthcoming) indicates that while participants (all women) were very positive about the potential of the course in increasing participation of those who would normally be prevented, in practice, the participants found it very difficult to fit participation around work and home demands. This all seems rather negative, however there are things that unions can be doing to mitigate these negative consequences. Bryant (2000) suggests that the possibility of real challenges to the labour market inequalities still faced by the women home-workers is reliant upon the development of communities and collective action, something not visible amongst her research participants, but which is actively encouraged in the trade union context. Additionally, the study of the TUC online course (Kirton and Greene, forthcoming) indicated areas for improvement including more course structure, more diverse communication modes and repair of technical problems which would better facilitate participation. While it is doubtless that at the current time, physical presence at courses is most preferable, it should not be forgotten that this would deny most women and non-standard workers the chance to participate in their trade unions. In this case, E-forms are invaluable.

Third, while E-forms offer the potential of more distributed and more transparent means and substance of communication, it is obvious that there can be domination of union web sites and other electronic communication means by the same cliques as in more traditional modes. In studying the use of the Internet and email within the context of the Malaysian political crisis in 1999, it is important to recognise that as a tool, the Internet has its limits and there are dangers that information can be misused and misrepresented (Holmes and Grieco, 1999). Like any other media form, users of the Internet and E-mail need to assess the validity and usefulness of material provided. However, there is little doubt that such cyberspaces will become increasingly important in the future, as Internet use increases and electronic forms of communication become more and more habitual. What is most positive about the Internet is that any particular discourse can be found distributed across a number of different sites; the ordinary union member is not only reliant on the official union magazine or channels of information through their workplace representative. A quick scan of any issue on the World Wide Web will uncover a number of associated lay activist sites, indicating that cyberspace is a place where traditional patterns of cognitive policing cannot be exercised so easily.

Batstone, E. Boraston, I. and Frenkel, S. (1977), Shop Stewards in Action: The Organisation of Work Place Conflict and Accommodation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Beynon, H. (1973), Working for Ford. Harmondsworth: Penguin,

Bryant, S (2000) ‘At home on the electronic frontier: work, gender and the information highway’, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol.15:1, pp19-33

Cockburn, C (1995) Strategies for Gender Democracy, Brussels: European Commission.

Cornfield, D. (1993) 'Integrating US labour leadership', Research in Sociology of Organisations, 12: 51-74.

Darlington, R. (1994), The Dynamics of Work Place Unionism: Shop Stewards’ Organisation in Three Merseyside Plants. London: Mansell

Fairbrother, P. (1989), "Work place trade unionism in the 1980's: A process of renewal", Studies for trade unionists London: Workers Educational Association, Vol 15, 57,

Fiorito, J. (2000), ‘IT, Union organising and detours along the way’, paper presented at the LSE industrial relations seminar series, November 2000.

Gall, G. (1999), ‘The prospects for workplace trade unionism: evaluating Fairbrother’s union renewal thesis’, Capital and Class, 66, 149-157.

Greene, A. M. and Kirton, G. (forthcoming) ‘Advancing Gender Equality: The Role of Women-only Trade Union Education’, Gender, Work and Organization.

Greene, A. M., Hogan, J. and Grieco, M. (2000), ‘E-Collectivism: Emergent Opportunities for Renewal’, in B. Stanford-Smith and P. K. Kidd (eds.), E-Business: Key Applications, Processes and Technologies, Omashu.

Heery, E, Simms, M., Delbridge, R, Salmon, J., Simpson, D. (2000), ‘The Organising Academy: An assessment’, Paper presented to the 18^th Annual International Labour Process Conference, April, Glasgow.

Healy, G. and Kirton, G (2000), 'Women, power and trade union government in the UK', British JOurnal of Industrial Relations, 38: 3, 343-360.

Hogan, J. and Grieco, M. (1999) ‘Trade unions on line: technology, transparency and bargaining power’, Paper presented at a Workshop on Cyber Ontology at the University of North London, October 1999.

Holmes, L. and Grieco, M. (1999) The power of transparency: the Internet, e-mail, and the Malaysian political crisis. The Business School, University of North London; Paper presented to Asian Management in Crisis, Association of South East Asian Studies, UK, University of North London, 12th June

Hyman R.,(1989)The Political Economy of Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in a Cold Climate Macmillan, London

Hyman, R (1979), " The Politics of Work Place Trade Unionism: Recent Tendencies and some problems for Theory", Capital and Class, 8, , 54-67,

Kirton G. and Greene A. M, (2000) ‘Positive Action in Trade Unions: The Case of Women and Black Members’, Aston Business School Working Paper, August, RP0021.

Kirton G. and Greene, A. M. (forthcoming) 'On-line Learning: overcoming the gendered spatial and temporal barriers to women’s trade union participation?' paper to be presented at the 17^th EGOS (European Group of Organisation Studies) Colloquium, July, Lyons.

Kirton, G and Healy G. (1999) ‘Transforming Union Women - the Role of Women Trade Union Officials in Union Renewal’, Industrial Relations Journal, 30:1, 31-45.

Labour Research (1998) Hard Work ahead for Unions, LRD

Lane T. (1974), The Union Makes Us Strong. Lincoln: Arrow.

Lane, T. and Roberts, K. (1971), "Strike at Pilkingtons", William Collins Sons and Co, Bungay,

Lee, E. (1997), The Labour movement and the Internet: the new internationalism, Pluto Press: London

McLaughlin, J (1999) ‘Gendering occupational identities and IT in the retail sector’, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol.14:2, pp143-156

Michels R., (1962), Political Parties, Free Press, New York

Michels, R. (1915) Political parties: A sociological study of oligarchical tendencies in modern democracy’, , New York: Free Press

Pliskin N., Romm, C. T., and Markey, R. (1997), ‘E-mail as a weapon in an industrial dispute’, New technology, Work and Employment, 12: 1, 3-12

Sadler-Smith, E, S.Down, J.Lean (2000) ‘"Modern" learning methods: rhetoric and reality’, Personnel Review, Vol.29:4, pp474-490

Shostak, A. B. (1999), Cyberunion: empowering labor through computer technology, M.E. Sharpe

Terry, M (1993), 'Work Place Unions and Work Place Industrial Relations: The Italian Experience'. Industrial Relations Journal, 24, 2 June, 138-151.

Webb S and B, (1894)A History of Trade Unionism, Longman, London

Webb S and B, (1920) Industrial Democracy Longman, Green and Co, London