Beyond the Negation of Gender: Technology Bargaining and Equal Opportunities

Abstract

The main focus of this article concerns the way in which the importance of gender in trade union technology bargaining at workplace, company and industry level has been largely ignored; the consequences of ignoring or playing down the significance of gender relations at work, and possible ways of redeveloping trade union technology policies in conjunction with equal opportunities strategies. This is developed through an examination of UK white collar trade union technology bargaining and a comparative study of British and Scandinavian banking union technology bargaining strategies. This is followed by a discussion of possible approaches to an integrated technology and equal opportunities policy which draws on a number of local trade union and feminist interventions in the process of technical change in the UK and Europe.