As you know, my view is that instead of keeping rapacious companies in check by the threat of withdrawal of labour, the future is not to hit them on the production side by strikes: the international mobility of companies means they just go find more amenable labour.

The power lies in the withdrawal of purchase. Companies cannot go and find another consumer audience.

Unions still have an important role to play because they are inside the corporate machine. They remain the frontline of negotiation. But they have to learn (as being discussed here) to harness the game-changing possibilities of much larger communities online.

You can't be me, I'm taken