><http://mitsloan.mit.edu/news/releases/2000/guilds.html>
>
>Rebirth of guilds-MIT Sloan researchers see a shift in workers' organizations
>
>CAMBRIDGE, Mass., September 1, 2000 -- Two researchers from the MIT
>Sloan School of Management predict that over the next decade or so,
>there will be a rise in guild-type organizations to serve the needs
>of workers who no longer have traditional jobs ... blah blah blah
Reports today's *Australian* (it's only early days yet, but somehow this put me in mind of those rugged individualist worker-manadarins of the English north in the late 18th century, the textile artisans - gradually becoming more and more integrated throughout the closing years of that century, as the concerted challenges of factory capitalism rose to proletarianise 'em):
" Growth union goes online
By Workplace relations writer Michael
Bachelard 21sep00
THE nation's first virtual union will
offer online industrial services to
subscribers for $80 per year.
The service, which is yet to be
named, will be set up by a real-world
association, the Association of
Professional Scientists, Engineers and
Managers of Australia, as a halfway
house for professional workers who
might not otherwise seek to join a
union.
The venture into the cyberworld
proves how far APESMA has moved
away from the old-style model of
registered organisations providing
industrial services through cases in
the Industrial Relations Commission.
APESMA executive director John Vines said the new venture would be set up as a company and offer information and advice to clients.
Instead of representing subscribers in industrial negotiations, the association plans to arm subscribers with information that allows them to do their own bargaining, mostly for individual contracts.
Mr Vines said clients would be professionals and managers across scores of industries - "anybody with a university degree".
At $80 per year, the subscription fee would be a fraction of the annual APESMA membership fee of $385.
"It may be a halfway house for people who may not want to join a union for ideological reasons," Mr Vines said.
"But as we are providing an extensive amount of information. It will be very useful."
APESMA already collects and disseminates online a large amount of information about salaries and conditions for its members.
Subscribers to the new business would type in what sort of job they were applying for, their experience, their location and their qualifications, and the system would come up with the average salary they could expect.
They would also have access to information about employment contracts, redundancy provisions, unfair dismissal, overseas employment conditions and general conditions of employment, "so people will be able check whether their contract standards are up to scratch", Mr Vines said.
Any assistance beyond that information would be on a fee-for-service basis, and complex problems would be referred to APESMA's industrial staff and solicitors.
It is the first time in Australia such a service has been offered and it would be linked with existing services overseas.
Mr Vines said APESMA would be able to market professional products on the site, such as training, employment-related products and specialist products such as income-protection insurance.
"It's basically leveraging off our core business. We've accumulated a lot of information, a lot of expertise, but at the moment it is only available to our members," he said.
"I think there are a significant number of professionals who will also be interested in getting this information."
APESMA has been one of Australia's most successful unions in recent years, defying the general decline in union membership by increasing membership by an average of 4 per cent annually."
Cheers, Rob.