Labor Unions Turn to Internet to Inform

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 5 -- Like their counterparts in business, labor leaders in the United States have increasingly turned to the Internet to find new customers, keep the old ones and sharpen their message.

What they’ve found is a much better ability to organize on alarge scale with less effort. Before the widespread use of e-mail,union organizers often had to stand outside the gates of a planthanding out union literature, then track down workers at home.

24/7 Access

Now a union representative need only coax a worker’s e-mailaddress out of him or her to get 24-hour access.

“In a way, the Internet can almost be like an electronic homevisit,” said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the AmericanFederation of Teachers.

Workers can apply for union membership online, e-mail questionsand access union literature in the privacy of their homes — andwith easy access to dozens of pro-union links. The AmericanFederation of Teachers links most of its local publications, ineffect creating an online wire service for teachers.

Most of the labor links are tame, but a few take aim atcorporate policies and executive compensation. One site,www.allianceibm.org, reproduces the multimillion-dollar contract ofIBM head Lou Gerstner under the heading, “I’ve got MY contract!”Another site, www.walmartyrs.com, skewers alleged worker abuses byWal-Mart.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union’s Web site receivesabout 150-200 e-mails daily from workers wanting to know more abouttheir rights and about union organizing, said union spokesman GregDenier.

An Essential Link

Denier said the Internet has become an essential link to ruralworkers and others who fear they are the only ones complainingabout a boss or workplace.

“Workers are connecting with each other and finding, ‘Wait aminute, it’s not just me.’ That’s the basis for union organizing,”Denier said.

Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers ofAmerica, said the Internet was vital as negotiations dragged on inlast month’s strike against Verizon Communications. The unionposted daily bargaining updates on its Web site, with accessrestricted to members who typed in a password.