War declared on bosses using 'omnipresent surveillance' tools to quash union efforts (USA)

America's labor watchdog says it intends to crack down on the growing use of technology by bosses to closely monitor and measure staff, as it is feared this software may be used to thwart efforts to organize and unionize.

In a memo published Monday, the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)'s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said she was particularly concerned about "the potential for omnipresent surveillance and other algorithmic-management tools to interfere" with workers' rights to organize, which is protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Crucially, she fears these tools may prevent folks from privately and confidentially discussing and planning unionization efforts at work, which they are generally entitled to do. As such, she wants the labor watchdog to be ready to punish businesses that trample over these rights using these tools as "more and more employers take advantage" of employee-monitoring software.

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