Railway union vows to fight move giving railways access to video recorders data
MONTREAL — Railways operating in Canada would be required to install locomotive voice and video recorders as a safety measure under legislation introduced Tuesday, but the union representing workers is vowing to fight the change over privacy concerns.
“This is a full violation of privacy,” said Don Ashley, national legislative director for Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, who will take the fight to Canada’s privacy commissioner.
He said the union has no problems with the devices being used on locomotives as long as information isn’t shared with the railways.
Transportation Minister Marc Garneau says the law addresses employee privacy concerns by limiting how the data is used by railways. However, the union says once they gain access they will be able to use it for whatever they want because there will be no government oversight.