ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an account of the declining influence of trade unions in the industrialised countries, as evidenced by their lack of success in realising their stated objectives so far as the deployment of new technology is concerned. It discusses technology itself poses some particular problems for trade unions. The declining influence of trade unions in the industrialised countries since 1979 has nowhere been more clearly seen than in their failure to have any significant influence on the process of new technology deployment, despite the enormous leverage which the potential obstruction of deployment has offered them. Even when fully conversant with the new technology, the supervisor may be faced with the fact that his or her skill requirements will be radically altered by it. This change in the nature of required skills was perhaps most apparent in banking, insurance and finance.
