Negotiating Electronic Surveillance in the Workplace: A Study of Collective Agreements in Canada

Abstract

Innovations in information and communication technology have deepened the problem of workplace surveillance by expanding the capacity to measure and monitor worker activity. This article assesses the extent to which trade unions in Canada have made privacy a sufficiently serious concern to see that privacy protections are incorporated into collective agreements. It assesses the progress made since Bryant’s 1995 study, published in this Journal, which found practically no reference to electronic privacy protection in Canadian agreements. Specifically, the article reports on a content analysis of existing Canadian collective agreements to determine the extent to which privacy has been recognized by trade unions; to examine which sectors, industries, or individual unions have incorporated surveillance protection into their collective agreements; and to identify specific models of surveillance protection clauses in collective agreements.