Are contemporary trade unions utilizing the opportunities for revival presented by internet technology? A comparison of Croatian, UK and USA practice

Once a vital force in a society, trade unions have been on a decline for few decades. There isn´t a country in the world where trade unions haven´t been faced with a decline in members, and consequently a decline in power. Information technology, internet, and especially social networks are being commonly depicted as essential for trade union revival. The paper therefore analyses possibilities of internet technology as a strategy for reviving the trade unions. Furthermore, the empirical research was conducted to gather data about contemporary practice of using internet technology by trade unions in Croatia, and the pioneers of information technology usage - United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA). A total of 302 trade unions which were members of the national trade union center(s)/confederation(s) were investigated (190 from Croatia, 55 from UK and 57 from USA). The evaluation of the practice of internet technology usage was based on: (1) using web pages and (2) presence on internet social networks. The results were compared in those three countries. The analysis shows that both UK and USA trade unions are superior to Croatian ones in their internet presence. Precisely, UK trade unions seem to favour presence through web pages while USA trade unions tend to rely more on the social networks. Concerning the degree of internet presence, there is no statistical difference between UK and USA concerning the degree of internet presence through web pages, but there is again a statistically higher degree of presence of USA trade unions on the social networks.