Union wants bank to limit workplace surveillance amid bargaining talks
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) is calling out the Commonwealth Bank for refusing its requests to limit surveillance on employees, as the matter rises as a strong point of debate in negotiations for a new enterprise deal.
"Big Brother should be booted out of our financial institutions," said Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the FSU, as quoted by the Australian Financial Review.
The union leader stressed that current outdated laws are giving employers free rein to monitor every keystroke, every conversation, and even keep tabs on employees' toilet breaks.
"That level of intrusion is completely unjustified and the FSU wants the use of workplace surveillance to be limited to circumstances where it is necessary to protect worker and public safety," she added.
Angrisano made the remarks as she said the CBA had been refusing the union's "commonsense requests" on surveillance during their talks, the AFR reported.
A spokesperson from the CBA said it is "committed to managing employee information and technology responsibly and in accordance with applicable legal, regulatory and compliance obligations."
"We remain focused on bargaining in good faith and look forward to reaching an outcome in due course that is in the best interests of our people and the group," the spokesperson told the AFR.
Workplace surveillance concerns at CBA
Limiting workplace surveillance has emerged as a major demand from the FSU amid negotiations for the new CBA Enterprise Agreement 2026.
In its list of demands, the FSU is asking for explicit protections and parameters on how artificial intelligence can be used, including regarding worker surveillance.
"Worker surveillance to be limited to only circumstances where it is necessary to ensure the safety of workers and the public," it said.
The FSU made the demand as employees called out the level of surveillance they are being subjected to at the CBA.
The union cited the experience of one employee, who works at CBA supporting projects with agile practices and has seen first-hand how employees are being monitored.
One particular monitoring tool that was highlighted was the bank's Navigate app.
"The bank's Navigate app allows the organisation to connect to any of my Bluetooth devices at home," the employee said as reported by the union.
"And it's essentially observing what you're doing. For example, have I got my TV running in the background? Am I playing music? What am I actually connected to?"
"At the same time, every time I step away from my computer, my Microsoft status changes to appear as 'away.'"
The employee added that the Teams and Outlook applications on their phone are also constantly asking them about their location.
The Teams app has also recently included the ability to record how much an employee has participated in a meeting, according to the employee.
The employee clarified that not every manager is using the surveillance tools to measure productivity, but pointed out the risks of giving them the capacity to do so.
"We are aware that these tools are out there. I've seen it in my reports," he said. "What employers do with that information – and whether AI can generate more insights that humans couldn't have done in the past – is the next step."
The debate on workplace surveillance comes as legislation related to it starts getting traction across states, including New South Wales and Victoria.
