“Marc Garneau's proposal is an unprecedented violation of Canadian's privacy," said Doug Finnson
"Marc Garneau's proposal is an unprecedented
violation of Canadian's privacy," said Doug Finnson, President of
the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. "How can he possibly think
that workers aren't getting the short end of the stick?"
The proposed legislation would see locomotive
video and voice recorders (LVVRs) installed onto all trains – a
device which allows
companies
to record and observe workers in realtime from a remote location.
Contrary to a backgrounder on LVVRs published
today by Transport Canada, unions were not consulted on today's
announcement, which took Teamster representatives by complete
surprise.
Moreover, Transport Canada's assertion that it
was "generally determined that the safety benefits of LVVR would be
maximized if the recording could be used by railway companies"
wrongly and unethically alludes to a consensus on the proper use of
LVVRs.
Teamsters believe that TSB agents conducting
accident investigations should be the only ones allowed access to
LVVR recordings. The union does not trust rail companies like CP,
which lobbied in favour of today's announcement and has a track
record of systematically violating workers' rights.
"Today was a complete surprise and a total
disappointment," added Finnson. "For a government that can't stop
talking about the middle class, they sure love listening to
corporate lobbyists."
Teamsters represent 125,000 workers in
Canada in all industries, including 12,000 in the rail industry. The
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada
is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.
SOURCE Teamsters Canada
For further information: Stéphane Lacroix,
Director of Public Relations, Cell: 514-609-5101,
slacroix@teamsters.ca
