The blog of Eric Lee - web design and internet consulting for the trade union movement.
Britain needs a Powells
Way back in the early days of the Internet (in December 1996, to be exact), I noticed something new on the Amazon.com website. It was called an "affiliate program". It offered websites something extraordinary: the chance to share in Amazon's soon-to-be multibillion dollar revenue stream. I jumped at the chance and began selling Amazon's books through my own website, collecting around ten percent of the cover price of every book I could sell.
But soon it became clear that Amazon was pursuing a ruthlessly anti-union policy as it expanded, and being that my site was a union site, I couldn't very well continue as a partner with this company – even if it was bringing in some badly-needed income.
As luck would have it, at that very moment the largest independent bookstore in the United States, the Portland, Oregon-based Powells, was successfully unionized. A contract was signed with the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union (ILWU). And it turned out that Powells had an excellent online shop – and an affiliate program, just like Amazon's.
I immediately switched over, and began encouraging trade unionists to do their book shopping online with Powells. The AFL-CIO and several national unions in the US also became "Powells Partners".
It was a "win-win" situation, with unions promoting a company which recognized unions.
The problem is, Powells is a US company, and shipping books overseas is expensive. There are online bookshops in the UK with affiliate programs – Amazon being the largest, by far – but they are not yet unionized. In fact, only one unionized UK bookshop (Bookmarks) has a presence on the web and they do not offer an affiliate program.
What we need in Britain is a company like Powells – an online, unionized bookshop with an affiliate program.
Were such a shop to exist, its books could be promoted on the more than 460 trade union websites in this country. Sales to such a shop would increase, and unions could find their websites becoming a source of income.
Unions could use the service to promote the sales of particular books, such as books about labour history or current issues.
You'd think this would be in the interests of both unions and some bookshops – for the employer, surely the increased sales would outweigh the "disadvantages" of recognizing a union.
There – I've made the suggestion. I'll report back next month with the name of the UK's own version of Powells.
Comments
I am sure you will have read the promotion in the TUC newsletter to union reps for the book about Robert Tressell on sale at Zed books. I have now emailed them to refer then to the suggestion in this article. I have asked them if they have a union agreement, and suggested that if they do not they should agree recruitment facilities for my union , USDAW. I fully agree with your idea and would love to see the power of union members as consumers used in this way. I will let you know of any reply and wish you well with this campaign.
Alun Williams
Posted by: Alun Williams | November 19, 2003 07:08 PM