This paper deals with issues of symbolic violence within the trade union context, exploring examples of misconduct, lack of accountability and unrepresentativeness by union oligarchies. We explore how the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) provides new spaces for challenges to be made against oligarchic tendencies within union leadership. We draw on a selection of web sites, to illustrate how interactional processes of the Internet have been harnessed by lay activists and members to both challenge the oligarchic practices of their formal leadership and give voice to interest groups. This demonstrates the way in which cyberspace emerges as a 'location' where traditional patterns of cognitive policing cannot be exercised, enforcing notions of union democracy.

On May 11 2001, a conference was held at TUC Congress House London, on the subject of Unions and the Internet, to which were invited a range of people including academics, journalists, internet service providers, website designers, management consultants and a variety of trade unionists and trade union employees. In one presentation, early on in the first session of the day, a representative from Poptel (an Internet Service Provider) announced that what the trade union movement needed was an 'Internet Tsar', who would oversee the web presence and web activities of the UK trade union movement. Following this, debates about the necessity for, ethics of and the possibilities of finding such a person, found themselves weaving in and out of discussions throughout the day. The idea had certainly caught the attention of the whole group and this appeared to us to be significant for a number of reasons.

Firstly because it was illustrative of the attachment of the union movement to formal hierarchy and the need for leadership. Secondly because it was illustrative of the continued male dominated nature of the union movement and attachment to masculine values of direct (and even dictatorial?) control. Thirdly, because to us, the idea of an Internet Tsar not only appeared preposterous (is 'control' of the internet possible?), but more importantly was entirely antithetical to the nature of what is potentially the most distributed form of communication in existence. Indeed the idea of an Internet Tsar could be seen as a form of symbolic violence to the promise and practice of the Internet. Needless to say we are not in agreement about the need for an Internet Tsar: indeed our paper at the conference was entitled 'E-collectivism and distributed discourse: new opportunities for trade union democracy'. In addition, while clearly in the minority, we were not necessarily alone, our views of the distributed nature of the Internet were shared by some, indeed, one participant has stated that 'the Internet is the biggest successful experiment in mutualism ever attempted' (Thompson, 2000: 2) and that its initial creation was 'a distributed network that had no control, no centre and no real function other than to satisfy ..desire to communicate and collaborate more effectively' (Thompson, 2000: 4). More importantly than this with regard to the prospect of an Internet Tsar, Thompson sees the mutualist underpinnings of the Internet as 'necessary to its continued growth and survival' (2000: 30).

But what is the significance of the Internet for the trade union movement? We are convinced that the electronic realm provides possibilities of a more distributed form of trade union organisation, one that essentially allows challenges to be made to the 'iron law of oligarchy' (Michels, 1915). We want the union movement to move away from hierarchy, not towards it and believe that the Internet provides extensive capabilities in this direction - having an Internet Tsar would be a contradiction in terms.

Certainly trade unions and trade union researchers in Britain have been slow to respond to the opportunities that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) afford for organisation and mobilisation both with and beyond sectors and workplaces. 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 recruiting, organising, mobilising, and campaigning (Greene, Hogan and Grieco, 2000). Given the only relatively recent explosion of the World Wide Web, this is perhaps not so surprising, and certainly, the rate of interest in the subject is on a sharp incline (as demonstrated by the number of academic and trade union events over the last two years). Existing research has pointed to the positive potential offered by new ICTs in terms of aiding organising and organisational effectiveness, fostering and enhancing solidarity and collective action.

Research material to date has been fairly limited, firstly by being largely restricted to the US context, and secondly, by focusing on ways in which current union activities may be enhanced, rather than on what might be qualitatively new about e-forms. Certainly such discussions have much value in and of themselves. It is obviously important to understand the utility that new ICTs may have for aiding resource dissemination, recruiting members and aiding industrial action. In terms of resources, web sites 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 marshal a range of relevant industrial relations materials that 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 (Greene, Hogan and Grieco, 2000). In terms of recruitment, E-forms could better enable increased participation and activism among women and non-standard employees (groups which are currently underrepresented in trade unions). Twenty four hour access to an Internet site for example, offers the potential of better enabling women who are 'time poor' (due primarily to care responsibilities) to rapidly view ‘recruitment web pages’ and to weigh the advantages of union membership. In terms of industrial action, Shostak (1999) and Pliskin et al (1997) discuss how email communication helps to enhance collective action, connecting people through an industrial dispute. Some of these areas of potential will be discussed in greater detail when we look at some case examples.

However, in the main, this research, particularly that of a quantitative nature (Fiorito, 2000), only provides us with a limited picture of the impact of ICTs on trade union activity. For instance, it offers little understanding of the social processes involved in technology use by unions, such as we gain from more qualitative and anecdotal research found in Shostak (1999) and Pliskin et al (1997). In terms of academic debate, while Lee (1997) offers a useful compendium of the ways in which ICTs might be used as tools of union activity of all kinds, as a largely practitioner guide, the analysis is limited in its theoretical development about the nature of union participation and collective action. Overall, there has been little theoretical debate about the significance of e-forms of trade union activity. More significantly, relating back to the debate about the 'Internet Tsar', research so far (with the exception of Pliskin et al and Shostak) has been noticeable in its exclusive focus on the official union level, rather than also looking at the lay activist and lay member level. In comparison, our level of interest is in looking at what the Internet, and e-forms of communication, mean for changing the relationships between union officials and union members.

As early as 1915, Michels paints a picture of the inevitable dominance of oligarchy within trade unions. According to Michels, oligarchy is a natural and inevitable consequence of organisation, whereby 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. It appears that such concerns are still salient nearly one hundred years later: representativeness and accountability of trade union activists remains a perennial problem. There is still substantial contemporary criticism of the unrepresentative nature of trade union hierarchies. 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 addition, there have been a number of recent public examples of membership dissatisfaction with the misconduct of union officials and responses of union hierarchies, (for example MSF, Hogan and Greene, 2000); and cases where the union leadership has been seen to be acting against the views of part of its membership (for example the Liverpool Dockers and the TGWU).

It should be recognised that unions themselves and interested commentators have not been blind to the need for challenges to such oligarchic forces. Indeed, over the last fifteen years, the need to increase levels of internal democracy, representativeness and accountability within trade union organisations have emerged as critical elements within the trade union renewal thesis (Gall, 1999; Fairbrother, 1989; Heery et al, 2000). However, we argue that current theorising and practice around areas of trade union renewal, remain confined within traditional models of trade union organisation, built around formal hierarchies. The role of the ordinary lay activist or ordinary (rank and file) member is disattended to: there is a lot of emphasis on the role of the union leader and one might question, where does such a viewpoint leave the ordinary lay member?

There has been a distinct move in recent years, away from renewal strategies based around recruitment and servicing of members (designed to increase membership numbers) towards organising (Heery et al, 2000) and mobilising members (designed to increase participation and activism of members). This is not least because the servicing strategies of the 1980s and early 1990s appear to have been singularly unsuccessful; demonstrated most clearly by the continued downward spiral of membership and lack of success in recruitment of growth areas of the economy. Additionally, the underlying assumptions of such strategies have been criticised (See summary in Greene, Hogan and Grieco, 2000; also Heery et al, 2000; Waddington and Whitson, 1992; Black et al, 1997). We concentrate in this paper on strategies to mobilise activism amongst existing members, rather than mobilising in terms of organising for recruitment purposes (although the two are integrally linked). Mobilisation in this regard involves activities undertaken in order to increase participation and activism of membership within the union and foster the willingness of members to take collective action. There is much debate about whether mobilisation should be encouraged (Bacon and Storey, 1996; Kelly, 1996, 1998) and if it should be, what the strategies are for mobilising union members. Within these debates, mobilisation theory has emerged as a salient tool of analysis.

Mobilisation theory is long established (Tilly, 1978), however it is most recently developed in John Kelly’s (1998) book Rethinking industrial relations: mobilization, collectivism and long waves. Kelly’s interest in mobilisation theory is in exploring how people come to see their interests as a common concern and generate within a group, a feeling of injustice, which is powerful enough to move an individual reaction or attitude to a collective response. Various elements of relationships and social interactions are seen as important in generating this sense of injustice and persuading people to come together in collective action in the trade union context. In particular, the actions of key union activists or union leaders are seen as crucial in promoting group cohesion and identity, persuading members of the costs and benefits of collective action and defending the collective action taken in the face of counter-mobilisation arguments (Kelly, 1998: 35).

Overall, this analysis of mobilisation theory is useful in its focus on social processes and in highlighting the multi-faceted nature of participation and activism in trade unions (see also Fosh, 1993). Kelly points out that mobilisation theory emphasises the need to try and gauge the extent to which members identify with the union organisation and the degree of interaction, or density of social networks amongst members (1998: 37). However, improving internal union democracy is not specifically mentioned by Kelly (1998), in the context of mobilisation theory. This is even though one might argue that the extent to which someone identifies with a trade union may rest, at least partly, on how far one feels that their interests are represented correctly, and can trust that union leaders act in one’s best interests.

Fosh’s (1993) research suggested that a participatory and collectivist style of union leadership would be more representative (demonstrating commitment to the interests which members express), more accountable (consulting and reporting back to membership and adhering to membership decisions), and more involved (drawing members into workplace decision-making) (Fosh and Heery, 1990). Such democratic processes would thus challenge the oligarchy of union leadership (Michels, 1915). In terms of mobilisation theory, identification with the union, and willingness to take collective action in support of that collective organisation, is thus seen as dependent, at least partly on how accountable, transparent and representative, the leadership of the union is seen to be.

However there is still the significant gap in this discussion: the role of the lay member. The old adage that ‘the union is its members’ seems to stand at odds with the dominant debate around the need for union leaders to promote, persuade and transform the interests and identities of members. A different view is to focus on how lay members can play a vital role in defining both substantive issues relevant to the union, and the styles of behaviour that union representatives can adopt (Beynon, 1973; Darlington, 1994; Batstone et al, 1977). The relationship between union leaders and lay members can thus perhaps seen more as a two way process (we might add more distributed basis), where the lay membership are considered as an important constraint on leader activity. However it is important that the lay membership have sufficient channels to make themselves heard and force union leaders to be accountable and representative.

It is useful to focus in on the local level of trade union organisations: in terms of activists, those at branch and workplace level, whilst also looking at the participation and involvement of ordinary lay members. Such local level analysis then begins to draw out the importance of recognising alternative interests and identities of union members. Indeed, this is a critical point made in John Kelly's final chapter on Postmodernism and the labour movement, where a variety of different interests and identities are seen as ‘fusing’ with that of workplace-based identity concerns. It is interesting however, that such arguments come late in the volume and are not directly related to the processes of mobilisation, such that we have little understanding of how recognition and representation of these wider interests might contribute to the fostering of collective identity and mobilisation of collective action. Richard Hyman’s analysis (1997; 1995) offers some further elaboration, recognising the way in which collective interests as citizens, as well as more personalised life-style concerns are forming part (or should form part) of trade union representation. We argue that trade unions must be seen to offer spaces for the voicing of a variety of interests, and to represent such interests effectively in the name of union democracy (representativeness, accountability, and transparency) if collective mobilisation is possible. It is interesting to debate how the distributed methods of communication and information distribution facilitated by new ICTs, might offer benefits in this regard, indeed ICTs are seen as ‘providing a material basis for transforming unions into more ‘discursive’ forms of organisation’ (Hyman, 1997: 326). Some such debates are engaged with later.

In summary, the need for organising and mobilising members has become a prominent part of trade union strategies for renewal. However existing debate and research has neglected to consider three key areas. The first involves the importance of increased internal union democracy as a tool of mobilisation. Secondly, much analysis has disattended to the important role played by lay members and activists outside of the official union leadership hierarchy, exploring the voicing of varied membership interest groups, necessary for the formation of collective interests. Thirdly, there is a little discussion of the potential of new ICTs in these areas of increased union democracy and interest voicing.

The relevance of Michels' thesis to this debate regarding union democracy and the potential of e-forms of communication, is that he clearly identifies the constraints upon ordinary members exercising control over the direction of trade union praxis, which provides a useful framework for analysis. Michels indicates 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)

What is important to note is that implicit within Michels' analysis is the place of the ordinary member as opposed to the union leader. Michels' thesis involves the failure of democratic processes within unions to force accountability and representativeness: it is essentially about the absence of membership activism. One might argue logically that key to mobilisation is the equipping of the ordinary member with the skills and space to voice their diverse interests and control policy and action. It should be noted however that while Michels' position does not differ dramatically from that of the Webbs (1894, 1920) in the identification of the disparity of outlooks between union leaders and rank and file members, Michels did not believe that lay members could challenge these oligarchic forces. Alternatively, the Webbs believed that it was possible, under specified conditions, for ordinary members to have some influence over 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). Here is where the potential of e-forms of communication really emerges: the potential for the Internet to facilitate more distributed forms of communication, allowing ordinary members to voice their interests and force their leaders to be more accountable. We now draw on examples of union-connected web sites to illustrate firstly, the potential of the distributed nature of internet communication and secondly, the preposterous nature of a role for an Internet Tsar.

These examples are highly controversial, perhaps because they are unofficial and outside of the official hierarchy, but also due to the nature of the material covered and because the reasons that activists felt that they needed to set up these sites are controversial in themselves. It should be noted here that we are presenting the data as it was available in the public domain at the time of writing. We cannot externally corroborate the authenticity or legality of claims made, or of evidence presented in the web sites we have explored. Thus, any assertions made are based on the evidence available within these public domains and are open to interpretation. In addition, the web sites are updated frequently, and we can only verify the content of web sites at the time of writing.

Most people will probably have been aware of the Liverpool Dockers' dispute-the case of 500 sacked workers at Merseyside Docks and the consequent 28-month dispute (1995-1998). This case example does more however than just look at the role that Internet activity played within the arena of industrial action. More specifically, the web site is useful because it was set up by a lay activist to draw attention to the dispute and to mobilise support around the Dockers. Importantly, the site was set up in the light of the lack of official support from the Dockers' union-the TGWU when it felt unable to represent the sacked workers in the context of legislation restricting industrial action (see the site for further details). The importance of archiving ability provided by the new information technologies has been highlighted (Greene, Hogan and Grieco, 2000), and the Liverpool Dockers' site is useful in particular, in demonstrating the archiving capacity of the net. 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. In essence, e-forms can facilitate more distributed processes of communication between union leaders and ordinary members.

The Liverpool Dockers' archive, which can be found at the site, is an extremely detailed resource. For the period of the strike, the archive contains over 3,400 files detailing how the strike unfolded, along with accounts of the striker’s opinions, discussions and arguments, as well as details of solidarity actions and messages of support. The Liverpool Dockers site suggests how, if activists outside of the hierarchy feel that official unionism has failed them in the task of recording collective experiences, unofficial structures can, with far fewer resources, provide high quality archives that can allow for the retention of memories that may otherwise be lost.

It is also clear that the use of this web site played a crucial role in the mobilisation of support. At a national level, this was key as their struggle gained global visibility through the Internet. 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). 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 also 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. In the Liverpool Dockers' case, international support was crucial as global visibility gave impetus to their campaign. Use of the Internet allows activists to highlight organisations, which support their causes and interests and vice versa through explicit links, and provides a clear indication of the benefits that the World Wide Web can bestow on groups of individuals with fewer resources than the large unions.

www.rogerlyons.com

This site is more clearly an example of an active campaigning site, given that the 'struggle' is contemporaneous. This web site has been created by a lay activist of the British trade union Manufacturing, Science, Finance (MSF). Material for analysis here has been gathered largely on the Internet, surveying the official and unofficial web sites associated with MSF. The chronology of events, proceedings of testimonies and internal union interactions were acquired primarily through the unofficial site. In addition, analysis was made of popular media coverage of the events, particularly that in national newspapers. Finally, contact was made with an MSF official and the creator/manager of the site.

The background to the creation of the web site revolves around a number of recent (officially unsubstantiated) accusations of abuses of union resources by officers at the apex of MSF, which have begun to reach the public domain through popular media and web site channels. The context under discussion begins in early 1999, when a former employee of the union passed on information gained in the course of her employment about the financial behaviour of the General Secretary Roger Lyons and another senior official, including accusations of petty and major financial fraud. This initial ‘whistleblowing’ disclosure, then set into motion a whole train of events, including a number of disciplinary hearings, the dismissal of staff members, the resignation of the assistant general secretary, and unfair dismissal tribunal cases. Unlike the Liverpool Dockers' case, there has been wide public press coverage of the case, most of which has been derogatory of the conduct of the union (Hencke, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c). This coverage has been extremely critical, particularly with regard to comments that the official union hierarchy has attempted to close down debate about the issue. Critics of the General Secretary and the leadership of MSF have pointed to a number of incidents that they believe indicate a lack of willingness to investigate allegations thoroughly and reveal marked tendencies towards the suppression of free debate and disclosure. In this regard, the case appears to illustrate a clear struggle for accountability and voice by lay activists and ordinary members.

In similarity to the Liverpool Dockers' site, one of this site’s principal strengths is in providing a detailed archive of events, associated materials and connected links. For example, there is a link to "Roger in the News". In this section the visitor can see at a glance that the allegations of corruption have featured in at least 27 national newspaper articles in the previous six months. Each of these pieces, bar one, can be viewed electronically, at the click of a button. The stories cover the allegations, the denials by Lyons and other senior figures in MSF, as well as reports about the proceedings and outcome of the various Employment Tribunal cases, along with references to the dissent expressed within sections of the union. As a resource, this centralised referencing, combined with the automated links to the source materials, is highly valuable in providing a means to gain an overview of events at high speed and low cost. In addition, the site contains a link devoted to the case between the original 'whistleblower' and MSF. This is an amazingly detailed resource including affidavits, a 13,000 word, highly detailed, witness statement and aide memoires used at tribunals. In addition, there is a day-by-day account of the tribunal, with accounts of the conduct of witnesses, lawyers and Tribunal members, as well as reports of stories and rumours circulating around the court.

In this regard, what both this, and the Liverpool Dockers' site demonstrate is that having the capability to distribute information and resources to many more people, also holds with it the more significant capability of changing the relationship between official and rank and file. 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.

Although the online documentation is significant, there are a number of other features that are particularly noteworthy. Firstly, the site provides space for those who are marginalised within the union. However, it is also used to mobilise opinion and support behind other activists who have been targeted and banned from holding office, supposedly because of their dissent. Hence, the site also hosts a campaign to overturn a ban upon one activist, who is prevented from holding office within the union for three years.

Secondly, the site demonstrates the capabilities inherent within e-forms to allow for the rapid and cheap posting of sophisticated mobilisation materials. On the home page, there is an invitation to emet the General Secretary. On clicking this link, the visitor was notified of a regional meeting where the General Secretary would be in attendance. The notice contained a high resolution picture of Roger Lyons, thus making him more readily identifiable, but also it contained a further link to Wakefield Town Hall, which if clicked brought up a detailed Ordinance Survey map, so that all those who might wish to go to the meeting could find the venue more easily.

The site also contains reference to activities that indicate an awareness of the potential for e-forms to break through organisational boundaries and to be used as a distinct weapon of insurgency. Here, particular attention needs to be paid to the link, "Staff Edition", which when opened revealed an e-mailed memo sent to all MSF staff encouraging them to visit the site. The significance of this communication is that given one can assume access to the at least near complete list of staff email addresses, the campaign to publicise the case can reach the target audience in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, the rich content of the emailed memo, with direct hyperlinks to different parts of the website effectively places the home page in every e-mail in-tray.

Thirdly, this site illustrates the capability that e-forms offer for the possibility of imposing accountability on the use of information by increasing the transparency of the behaviour of union officials to the union membership. This enables an 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. 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.

The significance of the debate around this site is that it clearly links into our previous discussions regarding union democracy, voicing of interests and mobilisation of collective action. Arguments about oligarchy, have focused on the way that information can become the exclusive property of a small group of ‘elite’ union officials at the apex of the union hierarchy. This web site challenges this exclusivity, in a context where there appear to have been official efforts to prevent the disclosure of information and to clamp down on discussion. The web site provides a space for the voicing of grievances and the creative manipulation and presentation of information, which allow people to make up their own minds about the events occurring within their own union domain. It also allows particular events and issues to be linked to wider concerns and interest groups. It demonstrates clearly the way in which ICTs can more easily facilitate the two-way interaction processes within the union hierarchy, with ordinary members and lay activists finding the spaces to make their opinions and views heard amongst a wider audience, cheaply and very quickly.

This involves a web site set up by workplace activists based in the local branch of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists) based at a company-Reed International. This was one of the few presentations at the Unions and the Internet conference that looked beyond the national, and official level, although this was not a specific argument within the presentation itself. As the web site creator stated himself, ReedNUJ.org illustrates how workplace activists used the Internet in a union recognition campaign within a workplace primarily made up of online journalists (Mason, 2001). While the NUJ had been successful in gaining a voluntary recognition agreement under the terms of the recent Employment Relations Act, slow progress was being made by the official union in terms of actually signing up members through fairly conventional recruitment drives, including leafleting and meetings. In the face of this, workplace activists decided to take action into their own hands. These activists felt unable to rely on the national union for infrastructure or advice - 'the NUJ was one of the first to launch a web presence,.. thereafter it made little progress. Even today its website is 'unofficial' - hosted by activists' (Mason, 2001:2). Therefore, a single activist took on the task of setting up a web site to co-ordinate the recruitment drive. Overall it was seen as overwhelmingly successful in keeping employees informed of the recognition campaign and in recruiting members (although numbers were not given).

What is significant about this example is firstly, that it illustrates the ability of activists outside of the official hierarchy to use an unofficial web site to 'do in a day what a national one may take months to do' (Mason, 2001: 4). 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. This was demonstrated in the fact that the costs (apart from activist time- which they would normally put in anyway) of the ReedNUJ.org site were incredibly low - annual costs reported were £189.

Secondly, 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 (not having such skills was a key 'force for oligarchy in Michels' terms). 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. As Bimber argues in the sphere of political activism, the lower costs of organising collective action offered by e-forms are particularly beneficial for those outside the boundaries of traditional institutions (1998: 49). What is more, every development in user-friendly technology is a contribution to communicative competence. This has significant consequences for facilitating the increased participation of ordinary members and enhancing activism.

Thirdly, one might also argue that the potential for distributed communication offered by E-forms is even more important in the context of journalism and the wider media industry, because of the non-standard nature of the work. Therefore, the potential of E-forms to allow the time and space considerations of trade union participation and activism to be reconfigured is important. This has particular consequences for anyone on a non-standard contract or anyone outside of the traditional full time, male stereotype of the trade union member. This will include by default many more women trade union members. 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. We can reflect on the difficulties faced by the NUJ with their conventional recruitment activities. 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 (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.

In all the three cases reported above, we see examples of the potential of e-forms which have also been found in fairly conventional research and writing so far. In all three for example we see the capability that e-forms offer for the speedy and low cost way that information and resources can be distributed across a much broader range of people. However, these lay activist sites indicate much more important developments than this.

Secondly, these example sites indicate the power and resources of lay activists outside of the official union hierarchies and the inherent capabilities that cyberspace offers for the upskilling of other activists and members. In this respect, mobilisation theory and strategies for renewal cannot just be about leadership-led initiatives, or about only making the leadership more representative and participatory. Certainly, unions have been concerned to be seen as more representative of their membership constituencies, but have not necessarily seen e-forms as a strategy. One might argue that the technologies offer the space and resources for activists to force their leaders to be more participatory and representative and should be engaged with more productively.

We are not arguing 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, indeed we are very aware of the barriers to electronic participation and the possible dangers involved (Greene, Hogan and Grieco, 2001) although there is not space to discuss such issues here. What is important here is that we are adamant that E-forms should not be ignored, as they offer such potential benefits and indeed probably cannot be ignored. Within Michels' thesis, what a trade union 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 whom is defined as an activist. Trade unions 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. This is the essence of the future challenge to the violence created by the 'iron law of oligarchy'.

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