CN's hidden cameras draw fire from union

CAW worker at Winnipeg wheel shop finds hidden camera, company said it was concerned about vandalism

The Canadian Auto Workers union is upset after one of its workers at CN Rail in Winnipeg discovered a hidden camera while performing routine building maintenance.

The CAW said the worker at CN’s Transcona Wheel Shop was shocked when he found a surveillance camera behind a screen in an overhead air duct.

CN said it put the cameras in the ceiling as part of an investigation into why equipment kept breaking down. According to a Winnipeg Sun article, equipment used to refurbish train wheels in the shop has been plagued by breakdowns and the company suspected vandalism was the reason.

Jim Feeny, a spokesman for CN, said two hidden cameras were installed over the common work area a week ago but weren’t recording and would only be used for a limited time.

“The intent was to notify the union leadership before the activation took place,” Feeny told the Sun. “This was another step in the investigation. It’s very important we find out what is happening here so the safety of the workers can be assured.”

In a press release, the CAW said it confronted management with the discovery. CN’s explanations ranged from “faking of injuries” to “collusion” and finally settling on “vandalism, sabotage and theft,” it said.

Bryon De Baets, president of CAW Local 100, the union representing workers at the wheel shop, said he told the company the cameras were “despicable.”

“What kind of employer treats workers like this?” he said.

This isn’t the first time the union has butted heads with CN over surveillance of employees. During bargaining in 1998, CAW director of transportation Gary Fane wrote to CN to protest against its “installing covert surveillance equipment in some work locations,” after the union learned of hidden listening devices in the ceiling of a lunchroom and cameras trained on the punch clocks at another facility, the union said.

It also charged that in September some wheel shop supervisors in Winnipeg had been assigned the full-time job of standing a few feet away and constantly watching certain employees for an entire eight-hour shift.

“It appears this practice ended about the time the cameras would have been installed,” the union said.

The CAW said it is considering filing a grievance against CN and filing a complaint with the federal privacy commissioner. The union may have a case under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, the privacy law that governs federally regulated employers such as CN.

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