Greg Coyne helped to set up and co-ordinate the first European electronic mailing list for the trade union movement 'Union-D'. Subscribers can send messages via computer to all other subscribers, alerting each other cheaply and quickly to news of mutual interest. Union-D was set up in 1994, but the system hit its stride last summer, just in time for us.
From the Merseyside Trade Union Centre in Liverpool, Greg began posting our information to Union-D, giving the dock stewards' address and asking subscribers to advise on ways of conducting community campaigns, send messages of support, donations, information on the port of Liverpool and its international connections, and help with approaching Euro MPs. This information was then passed into other trade union electronic networks worldwide, including Canadian 'Labor-L' and US 'LaborNet'.
When we began to seek contact with port workers around the world, we found comrades in Australia in 12 hours. More recently we needed a fax number for dockers in Piraeus. The answer to our electronic appeal came back - from Manchester!
When word of our exploits began to get around, the local press rang Greg Coyne to ask about our 'web site', an address on the Internet where information can be stored permanently, only to learn that we didn't have one ... yet.
While Union-D circulates to its subscribers, the Internet is a worldwide system used by millions of people, including a growing number of union branches.
Greg buzzed Jagdish Parikh, another Union-D heavyweight in the US, who approached 'GreenNet' which provides access to the Internet for a range of progressive organisations including environmental, trade union, peace and women's groups.
The job of delivering our information to GreenNet then passed to Chris Bailey in Cambridge.
GreenNet is a member of an international organisation called the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Another affiliate to APC, LaborNet in the US, has been working to develop a trade union computer network. It organises a wide range of union computer conferences for workers in auto, rail, public sector, maritime etc.
Because they are both part of the APC, LaborNet conferences are available to GreenNet subscribers in Britain. The conferences are US orientated, but LaborNet has made serious efforts to develop them in an international direction.
For about two years Chris Bailey has been providing a British trade union news input and there are similar inputs from Canada, Asia and Russia. A few months ago LaborNet brought some of those involved in this work onto an international steering committee to lobby for a greater trade union profile in the APC. This resulted in discussions with GreenNet on the possibility of developing LabourNet here.
When the Liverpool dockers’ strike was discussed with GreenNet they were very sympathetic and agreed to launch LabourNet by providing a free web site to publicise the dockers’ cause. This free site offer was later extende to all strikes and lockouts and the Hillingdon Hospital strike has also taken one.
Since the dockers’ web site was the first, those involved didn’t have much idea of how to do it. The Internet once more proved its worth - they were able to put it together by pooling the knowledge and skills of trade unionists in several different countries via the net.
Their first attempt was pretty basic and was mainly based on US experience where a number of strikes have used web sites to build solidarity. These have been mainly designed to publicise the strikes to other US trade unionists on the net.
They soon realised that the dockers’ site was different and was breaking new ground. Its main potential was in publicising the strike internationally. Some of the features of US strike sites didn’t work so well. They needed to develop new ideas and techniques.
A growing number of trade union activists throughout the world now have access to the Internet. Trade union web sites have begun to sprout up all over the place. They appealed to these to publicise the dockers’ site and got an excellent response. Important trade union web sites in the US, Canada, Australia and many other parts of the world linked to it and gave it prominence.
This meant that anyone who used these sites could immediately connect to the dockers’ site and learn all about the strike. Many trade unionists throughout the world heard about it this way. Although there is still only a relatively small percentage of trade unionists on the net they often print out material and pass it on to their union branches etc.
There are also a growing number of labour movement journalists and reporters using the internet for information. Several have contacted LabourNet to tell them that they are their main source of news on the strike and to keep it coming. Some of these messages were from places where the Internet is becoming well established such as the US and Canada, but others came from Italy, the Czech Republic, Finland and Norway. LabourNet seem to be reaching the parts other news sources don’t reach!
Sometimes this bypassing of the usual biased news channels produced surprise results. Most trade unionists in the US were not aware of the solidarity action with Liverpool by East Coast longshoremen until it was publicised by LabourNet. Even the West coast longshoremen, who are in a different union, only found out when they contacted LabourNet to get in touch with the Liverpool Shop Stewards. It then became “hot news” on the US trade union network.
Information from a computer can seem impersonal and remote. At an early stage LabourNet decided to use photos on the web site to portray the dockers as real living people, not just messages from cyberspace.
When Jack Heyman from the San Francisco longshoremen visited Liverpool to bring solidarity greetings a series of photos of him with the dockers was put onto the site. With usual US technical ingenuity these images were projected onto a screen at a “support the Liverpool dockers” event organised by the San Francisco longshoremen’s Local. At the suggestion of one of LabourNet's news “customers” they are now starting a service to supply photos via the Internet to labour movement publications.
The next step was to put the whole of 'Dockers’ Charter' on-line thus making it immediately available to a world-wide audience. When Liverpool dockers contacted dockers in New Zealand recently they found they had already read 'Dockers’ Charter' via the web site.
By turning their fight into an international fight the dockers are showing the way to begin to confront new problems facing workers all over the world. Many of these problems arise from the globalisation of production and distribution brought about through the use of computer technology by management. It is important that this same technology is used to the full in the fight back. The dockers’ international battle with the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company is playing an important role in the building of a world-wide computer communications network for rank and file trade unionists.
LabourNet web site is on:
http://www.labournet.org.uk
Besides the dockers’ site it also includes links to many other trade union sites in Britain and internationally, including Union-D.”
