CyberUnion: Empowering Labor through Computer Technology by Arthur B. Shostak, Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1999, 288 pp., ISBN 0-7656-0463-9.

[B]y about 2003 or earlier the matter should be clear: The American labor movement will either be employing computers with finesse, or it will have become an inconsequential has-been, the organizational equivalent of “road kill” on the Information Superhighway (p. 6). I learned of this book via e-mail. In fact, Art Shostak sent draft chapters to me as e-mail attachments although I had requested a hard copy typescript. Unfortunately, I was then using a crude e-mail package that could not open his attachments, and eventually ordered the book from amazon.com, despite much trepidation about putting my credit card into cyber-circulation. Such is one person’s voyage in Cyberspace. Based on Shostak’s CyberUnion, it seems my haphazard progress is not so different from that of many unions. The haphazard nature of union information technology (IT) adoption is a key theme. Shostak hopes to accelerate more systematic progress by drawing distinctions among the ways various unions have implemented IT, identifying “best practice,” and encouraging unions to move toward a transformation to CyberUnion. I was particularly eager to see what Shostak, who has written on union innovation, had to say about union IT use. I was amidst writing on this topic (see Fiorito, Jarley, and Delaney, “The Adoption of Information Technology by U.S. National Unions,” Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 55 (3), 2000) and, finding a sparse literature, I was eager for theoretical guidance that might help frame my study, or practical examples that could clarify the mean- ing of quantitative data. Shostak’s CyberUnion was disappointing in the first regard, satisfying in the second, and surprising in a third. In the first regard, Shostak does not offer a systematic review of previous theorizing or empirical work on IT’s antecedents or effects on union performance. There is little or no discussion of systematic sampling or research methods. Many pertinent works are ignored. There is, for example, no mention of Templer and Solomon’s pioneering study of IT adoption in Canadian unions (“Unions and Technology,” Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 43 (2), 1988) nor recent works on union effectiveness. Instead, Shostak relies on futurist writings, popular news items, field reports from his former students and other trade unionists (some appear as essays in CyberUnion), a brief e-mail survey of unionists, interviews, and participation in practitioner conferences on union IT use. Although one could quibble about the rigour of his research methods, one cannot deny that Shostak has ventured into a relatively unknown area and brought back new information and perspectives. Also to his credit, Shostak generally casts a broad net in his information gathering and documents his sources and methods. Obviously things are changing rapidly in IT. At his writing, there apparently was no published literature review on IT adoption in organizations or its effect on organizations, much less unions. Given Shostak’s interest in trying to look forward, the emphasis on popular sources and futurist writings is understandable. Still, if one is trying to understand the causes and consequences of union IT adoption in the broader context of theoretical and empirical writings on unions, CyberUnion can be disappointing. In the second regard, as a source of practical examples illustrating how unions can and do use IT, the book excels. Contributors address IT uses for administration, political action, organizing, bargaining, and activating and servicing members. Additional essays address concerns of women workers and how union IT use relates to globalization. For unionists, these contributed essays and Shostak’s integrating discussion provide practical guidance, possibly best practice models, and at least a source of ideas for adoption or adaptation. For academics, CyberUnion summarizes and details changes that we will read …