Unionism across the world has evolved across the ages. The early stages of unionism till the beginning of this century aimed at putting their views across through protests and demonstrations. Picketing is one form of protest which has gained prominence over the ages.
Picketing is a non-violent form of protest where people assemble outside their areas of work to prevent others from joining work or to highlight an issue to the general public. The physical line made by a group of workers to prevent people from joining work is called a picket line.
Cyber picketing has evolved as a new way of demonstrating for achieving the common union goals. It seeks to make use of the growing influence of the internet to collate data for formulating and implementing union strategies.
There are several methods by which cyber picketing has been organized and put to use by unions across the world. One method is by deluging the company's mail server with chain mails highlighting a common demand. It ensures that there is enough show of strength at the time of protest. The company is also forced to call the unions to the negotiating table for such cases since it otherwise results in a direct loss of productivity to the organization.
Cyber picketing also enables unions to interface directly with similar unions at a national and global level. By highlighting common areas of interest and action, it allows formulation of common strategies for resolving the issues. It also facilitates compilation of a common database of the union members and the areas which impact them directly. This enables the union to formulate adequate policies to address them.
Despite its rising popularity, cyber picketing has not yet managed to completely oust the traditional form of picketing and protests. In fact, the concept has picked up only in countries in Europe and America. In most Asian countries, union agitation relies on strength in numbers and mass protests.
However, cyber picketing as a concept is rapidly catching on. Unions have relied on it to propagate their beliefs across a wide cross section of people. Traditional picketing tends to be localized in its demonstration and effect. Though there have been apprehensions on the accessibility to the internet to make cyber picketing successful, there is no denying that this e-enabled union strategy is here to stay. As the reach of the internet keeps growing, this technique will be used more and more by unions across the globe.