Orville
2nd Apr 2004, 12:18
Workers Online
Issue No. 215 02 April 2004
News
Workers Victory - We’re Legal!
Our loyal readers have won the legal right to receive Workers Online emails on their office computers under ground-breaking privacy laws announced by the Carr Government this week.
Following a four-year campaign by unions, NSW will become the first state in Australia to prohibit employers filtering union emails through office servers.
Several employers, including Channel Seven have prevented unions communicating with members during industrial action by filtering out all message coming from the union.
Unions have argued this is .an inappropriate use of employer power, likening the right to receive union emails to the well-established principle of union noticeboards in the workplace.
The break-through is part of a package of measures that will be covered by the Email Surveillance Act, which also includes:
- employers requiring a court order before they can covertly spy on worker emails
- and employers being required to develop a code of email usage in consultation with workers before they can overtly monitor usage
These measures will bring computer monitoring into line with the right oif workers not to be secretly filmed at work.
The NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson said the move was truly an historic development and a recognition that workers using computers at works have privacy rights.
"By bringing legislation forward the Carr Government can rightly claim to be taking an national leadership role in respect of workplace rights."
Robertson says the Labor Council would continue to work constructively with the government to ensure the passage of the legislation in the current session of Parliament.
http://workers.labor.net.au/215/news3_legal.html
I will never feel comfortable knowing that management are watching every word I type.
Issue No. 215 02 April 2004
News
Workers Victory - We’re Legal!
Our loyal readers have won the legal right to receive Workers Online emails on their office computers under ground-breaking privacy laws announced by the Carr Government this week.
Following a four-year campaign by unions, NSW will become the first state in Australia to prohibit employers filtering union emails through office servers.
Several employers, including Channel Seven have prevented unions communicating with members during industrial action by filtering out all message coming from the union.
Unions have argued this is .an inappropriate use of employer power, likening the right to receive union emails to the well-established principle of union noticeboards in the workplace.
The break-through is part of a package of measures that will be covered by the Email Surveillance Act, which also includes:
- employers requiring a court order before they can covertly spy on worker emails
- and employers being required to develop a code of email usage in consultation with workers before they can overtly monitor usage
These measures will bring computer monitoring into line with the right oif workers not to be secretly filmed at work.
The NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson said the move was truly an historic development and a recognition that workers using computers at works have privacy rights.
"By bringing legislation forward the Carr Government can rightly claim to be taking an national leadership role in respect of workplace rights."
Robertson says the Labor Council would continue to work constructively with the government to ensure the passage of the legislation in the current session of Parliament.
http://workers.labor.net.au/215/news3_legal.html
I will never feel comfortable knowing that management are watching every word I type.