Electronic monitoring and surveillance technologies
Negotiating Tech: An Inventory of U.S. Union Contract Provisions for the Digital Age
Governance of workplace technology applications
4.1 Electronic monitoring and surveillance technologies
Electronic monitoring and surveillance systems are among the most frequently addressed technologies in collective bargaining agreements. Union contracts across sectors have sought to define clear limits, notification processes, and accountability measures to govern how these tools are implemented and used. The provisions in this section reflect a wide range of negotiated protections—from foundational rights and advance notice requirements to restrictions on the use of surveillance data for discipline, evaluation, and attendance tracking. They also include procedural safeguards such as employee disclosure, system inspection, grievance rights, and standards for lawful, fair, and consistent application.
In many cases, monitoring is not the primary purpose of a workplace technology but rather a secondary or embedded capability, a phenomenon often referred to as the dual-use problem. Tools originally designed to facilitate core work tasks—such as logistics, customer service, healthcare delivery, or education—frequently include built-in monitoring capabilities or generate data that can later be used for surveillance or evaluation, even when that was not their primary purpose. Moreover, electronic monitoring often serves as the foundational layer for more complex systems that enable task direction, algorithmic oversight, or machine learning processes designed to observe and replicate worker behavior, effectively training systems that may be used to automate or displace human tasks. This heightens the stakes of how monitoring is governed at the point of deployment.
While some provisions focus on the technologies themselves, such as where cameras may be installed or whether GPS is permitted, others regulate how monitoring data may be used after it is collected. Some provisions address both. In such cases, categorization in this inventory is based on the provision’s primary focus. To support clarity and comparison, the examples are grouped into the following categories:
- 4.1.a Union rights and employer obligations for monitoring and surveillance: Foundational bargaining provisions that establish union rights to notice, consultation, system inspection, and right to reopen negotiations related to surveillance systems.
- 4.1.b Employee notification, disclosure, and training on monitoring technologies: Provisions requiring that employees be informed about monitoring practices, trained on system functions, and given access to data collected about them.
- 4.1.c Permitted and limited uses of monitoring and surveillance technologies: Clauses that authorize specific uses (e.g., safety or training) while restricting data use for discipline, evaluation, or monitoring protected activity.
- 4.1.d Prohibitions on surveillance technology use: Provisions that ban or limit the installation and technical configuration of specific monitoring tools, particularly in private spaces or when invasive features are involved.
- 4.1.e Conditions for use of electronic monitoring systems and data: Contractual standards governing system design, compliance with laws, consent requirements, fairness in application, and mechanisms for accountability.