According to a report by People Management the TUC has been telling trade unions that they should increase their efforts to recruit members amongst the new technology Dot.com companies.

Tony Burke, chairman of the TUCs organising academy and a member of the GPMU, is reported as saying that the new economy posed special challenges for the unions.

There is a strong belief that trade union's traditional role of collective bargaining is seen as being largely irrelevant to employees of Dot.com companies. Many programmers, designers and technicians are finding themselves in an industry where there are clear difficulties in recruiting staff because of the shortage of qualified personnel. Salary levels are not seen as a substantive issue for many workers in the industry.

The TUC however is pointing out that the trade union movement helps in a much wider sphere of representation such as equal pay for women, discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability and on matters such as bullying and stress related work conditions and hours worked.