Engaging with social media in a context of fragmentation and change: Chilean unions' use of the Internet and social media
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2020-0139 |
| Published date | 17 March 2022 |
| Date | 17 March 2022 |
| Pages | 1179-1191 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Daina Bellido de Luna |
Engaging with social media in a
context of fragmentation and
change: Chilean unions’use of the
Internet and social media
Daina Bellido de Luna
Universidad Aut
onoma de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Abstract
Purpose –This paper explores the ways in which a range of company-level trade unions based in Chile’s food
manufacturing industry engage with Internet technologies and social media.
Design/methodology/approach –The research has a qualitative methodology with 69 semi-structured
interviews conducted between 2015 and late-2019 with different level informants such as trade union leaders,
human resource managers, line managers, labour lawyers, academics and field experts.
Findings –The findings suggest that these trade unions’engagement with social media was not widespread, using
it to share communication of day-to-day activities with members. The article argues that even in contexts where
there appear to be some radical union traditions, a trade unions’identity, as well as the nature of the employment
relationship, can have a constraining effect regarding how unions use digital technologies and social media.
Practical implications –The article suggests new ways for Chilean trade unions to take the opportunities
offered by digital platforms and social media to enhance the representation of their workers’collective rights
while advancing the labour movement’s agenda.
Originality/value –The paper makes a direct contribution to the literature on Internet technologies, social
media and the labour movement, while expanding the empirical evidence on the topic and looking at the
limitations and constraints on the use of social media in this context. Given the current discussion in academic
settings as well as within the union movement about the importance of social media for trade union
revitalization, the present paper focuses on building empirical research in a less known context (i.e. Chile).
Keywords Trade unions, Chile, Internet technologies, Social media, Latin America
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This paper examines a range of Chilean company-level trade unions based in the food-
manufacturing industry with the aim of identifying the ways in which they engage with
Internet technologies in general, and social media more specifically. The article argues that
although the reviewed trade unions were engaging with different digital platforms to interact
with their members, the nature of industrial relations at the workplace level as well as their
identity framed how they utilised Internet technologies and social media. The paper will show
that more political uses of the Internet in activities such as mobilising and organising can be
influenced by the unions’identity, along with the nature of the workplace’employment
relationship. These findings seem to suggest that where collective bargaining is mostly
conducted at firm-level and framed within a more localised and business-facing form of
worker representation, it becomes critical to identify the workplace features, and the union’s
identity, in addition to understanding their possibilities for engaging with social media.
Much ofthe debate on trade unions,digital platforms andsocial media usage has centredon
European and North American contexts (see Martinez-Lucio et al., 2009;Mart
ınez-Lucio and
Chilean unions’
use of Internet
and social
media
1179
The author is grateful to Professor Miguel Mart
ınez Lucio and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful
comments throughout the different versions of this article.
Funding: The study was funded by Agencia Nacional de Investigaci
on y Desarrollo under the
following grant: Becas Chile Doctorado en el Extranjero 2015 [72160037].
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 30 March 2020
Revised 18 January 2021
12 September 2021
Accepted 2 March 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 44 No. 5, 2022
pp. 1179-1191
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-03-2020-0139
To continue reading
Request your trial