It has to have some kind of command structure to function. The whole power of organised labour, particularly through its ultimate weapons, the strike and the picket line, is dependent on this. Union members are often required to act against their own individual interests in favour of a general interest. A degree of compulsion, with sanctions against those who refuse to take such actions, is essential. The present trade union command structures have become highly bureaucratised.
Most unions fall well short of democratic values they claim to stand for.
In extreme cases, full time officials operate with very little control from rank and file union members. A major obstacle to creating a networked labour movement is resistance from these established union bureaucracies. They correctly see the wide dissemination of information involved in networking as a threat to their dominant position, based, as it is, largely on their control of 'channels of information'. Building a networked labour movement means taking on and ultimately eliminating these bureaucratic aspects of trade union organisation. But this cannot be done by simply building an information and communications network.