1. Turning my Union into a Web 2.0 Organisation
UNI Communicators’ Forum
Protaras, Cyprus, 10‐12 June 2009
Aristoteles Lakkas
Greek Federation of Bank Employees (OTOE)
UNI Communicators' Forum, Cyprus 2009 1

2. My Union: OTOE
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The strongest Federation in Greece, strategically
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positioned within the economic system
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60.000 members, 96% trade union density
Active, Decisive, Militant
T di i lC i i Ch l
Traditional Communication Channels: announcements,
fax, public speeches and tours, posters, one‐way
electronic information provision (static websites,
electronic information provision (static websites
emails)
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3. Experiencing the difficulties of our times
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The broad context of globalization, liberalization,
outsourcing and flexicurity in industrial relations results in:
Difficulties to recruit new members in small private
banks
An on‐growing environment of individualism
Decreasing participation in union functions such as
i d
industrial actions and elections, especially i private
i l i d l i i ll in i
banks
Union decision‐making becoming more or less an
decision making
abstract authoritative instead of a two‐way interactive
process
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4. Setting the grounds for a new approach
g g pp
Current diffi lti th t union viability and ability t act as an
C t difficulties threaten i i bilit d bilit to t
active social organisation, establishing the need to innovate upon
traditional processes and set the grounds for:
Unions as social stakeholders
Unions as employee‐centered organisations in which members
feel integrated into policy making processes
Union officials dynamically connected with members
resulting in
in…
Union representation as an on‐going, active, two‐way process,
transparent, legitimate, responsive, account‐giving and account‐
taking, open, flexible, omni‐participatory, democratic, interactive,
user friendly, providing equal access to excluded voices beyond
geography and other divisive factors
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5. Introducing the Web 2.0
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6. OTOE’s Strategy – From Theory to Practice (1/2)
gy y ( / )
No need to appear e‐friendly or in pursue of utopian dreams
attempting to revive the model of the ancient Athenian agora
Linking our efforts with everyday union agenda issues
Seeking to connect members through common web practices,
explore new communication channels, integrate online and
offline activities examine the participatory potentials beyond
activities,
campaigning and information dissemination
Initiation studies:
Social networking many of our colleagues virtually
networking:
present on Facebook, not equally using other platforms
such as UnionBook
Web 2.0 tools to be t ti ll
W b 2 0 t l t b potentially exploited: bl
l it d blogs, youtube,
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flickr and twitter
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7. OTOE’s Strategy – From Theory to Practice (2/2)
gy y ( / )
Pilot phase (8 months):
A team of 10 dynamic, reliable and highly‐motivated colleagues
representing thematic and geographic diversity with the purpose of
achieving cross‐regional and multi‐thematic engagement through
structuring and maintaining Facebook groups
In parallel:
1. Setting up a Wordpress blog and updating it with content
such as reports, interesting news, UNI’s material, forthcoming
UNI s
events and youtube videos featuring statements from officials
commenting on their activities
2.
2 Creating accounts on Flickr and Twitter
3. Transnational Videoconferences, Simulation of Social
Dialogue and Role Playing
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8. Dodecanese Islands: a case example
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12 Islands
Isolated, Geographically
Isolated Geographically
Constrained Communities
600 Bank Employees
600 k l
Members of OTOE
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9. Initial valuation First essons earnt
Initial Evaluation ‐ First Lessons Learnt
Initial assessment through: engagement figures, interviews,
informal discussions and feedback from campaigning
officials.
Not achieving active participation. Main barriers reported:
Younger members: socializing but not actively
socializing,
participating in union dialogue, hesitance to post
comments or take initiatives. Asking to enhance on their
union issues and social networking background before
further engaging.
Older members sceptical towards the whole venture in
members: venture,
many cases lack of underlying technical knowledge and
infrastructure.
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10. Re‐assessing our approach ‐ Corrective Measures
g pp
In response to demands, we organized educational
seminars on issues such as Web 2.0 technologies,
union policies and industrial relations in order to set
the ground for achieving more active participation
Examining the development of eLearning systems in
order to make massively available the above material
D fi a clear meaning of our engagement objectives
Define l i f t bj ti
Developing criteria for effective evaluation
(quantitative and qualitative i di t )
( tit ti d lit ti indicators)
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11. Towards an eOTOE: a Roadmapping approach (1/2)
pp g pp ( / )
Dimensions of shifting our electronic strategy
towards the desired:
Future Challenges and Barriers: political commitment,
building capacity, behavior, technical infrastructure
and necessary skill, b d online and offline activities,
d k ll bond l d ffl
evaluating
Tools and Activities to be exploited: ePetitions,
eConsultations, ePanels, eVoting, chats, RSS feeds
and further alert mechanisms forums newsletters
mechanisms, forums, newsletters,
polls, surveys
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12. Towards an eOTOE: a Roadmapping approach (2/2)
pp g pp ( / )
Extroverting and broadening our engagement:
OTOE as a key player in the South‐Eastern
Europe Mediterranean and Balkan region
Joint ff t
J i t efforts of networking and officials’
f t ki d ffi i l ’
videoconferencing with ETYK (Cyprus), MOBE
(Malta) and FABI (Italy)
Disseminating our international activities, such
as the results of the DialogoS+ European project
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13. Future Visions
Turning implies momentum, commitment
g p ,
and open mind.
Turning my Union into a Web 3.0 / Semantic
Web Organisation …. ?
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14. Thank you for your attention…
Lakkas@otoe.gr