Unions must use 4IR

Unlike Ebrahim Harvey (“Unions unprepared for the 4IR tsunami coming their way”, October 18), I strongly believe the fourth industrial revolution can be used by the trade union movement to grow its numbers, but it will have to embrace the changes both physically and psychologically.

Union membership in SA has been dwindling for a number of reasons. With 4IR, a portal could be structured whereby individuals could join the trade union movement via social media.

In addition, the growth of small business is well known to be the engine room of job creation and unions are not as active in small businesses as they should be. It is expensive for a trade union to service a workshop that has three employees, as opposed to a factory with thousands of employees.

The approach has to change. If trade union members could have access to confidential websites from which they could get advice and guidance for a small fee it would make it feasible for the unions to have hundreds of thousands of members online. Their costs of administration would drop considerably and their income would rise exponentially.

Already we see organisations offering online memberships for legal advice at a small cost. This could become a more innovative and structured way for unions to grow their membership and income.

The unions will have to embrace the changes to the economy, and that means embracing changes to their way of doing business.

Michael Bagraim, MP

DA deputy shadow employment and labour minister