In the last week, two major corporations have been caught undertaking extensive surveillance operations against their own workers.  

These revelations demonstrate precisely what Victorian unions have been warning against for several years now: that without strong regulation and worker voice, bosses will use new technologies to spy on staff and intensify workloads with no increase in pay. 

The Victorian Trades Hall Council has been at the forefront of the fight to restrict workplace surveillance in Victoria.  

Following a major survey undertaken of Victorian workers in 2024, VTHC revealed to the Inquiry into Workplace Surveillance the following findings about employers’ use of surveillance technology in recent years:  

• Workers' data and personal information is being collected in massive volumes that are disproportionate to any legitimate purpose. 

• Managers and supervisors have been told to lie to their staff about the presence or extent of surveillance at work.  

• Employers are introducing workplace surveillance as a way to increase workloads and repress the free exercise of legitimate workplace rights. 

• Employers are collecting personal information about workers that is not connected or relevant to their job role. Many employers sell this data to brokers without disclosure or compensation.  

• Overwhelmingly, workplace surveillance is occurring without transparency, disclosure, consultation or fair notice. 

• Sensitive data about workers is being stored without adequate safeguards to ensure it won’t be breached. 

• Workplace surveillance technology is both cheaper and easier to use than it has ever before.  

• In some companies, surveillance is being targeted at union delegates and HSRs to supress their activities and supress the rights of all workers.  

Recent events at Swissport and Safetrac have only highlighted the severity of this issue.  

Safetrac, one of the country’s top compliance training companies, is currently under investigation from Victoria police for turning workers’ laptops into covert listening devices that monitored workers even in their own homes.  

Laptop microphones were secretly switched on for up to ten hours a day, listening in on workers’ personal phone calls and their private conversations about the CEO. 

The surveillance software recorded not only work discussions or team meetings but any sound picked up close to the device.  

When two workers discovered the extent of this surveillance operation, they formally accused the company of invading workers’ privacy. Four days later, they were locked out of the company systems. No notice or reasoning was provided. A few weeks later, they lost their jobs.  

This is how major employers ‘handle’ workplace privacy when left unchecked by worker voice or government oversight.  

When other workers found out about their employer’s surveillance activities, they resorted to putting their laptops in their closets or taking personal phone calls outside.  

The AFR reports that one worker’s children started whispering whenever near them to make sure they wouldn’t get recorded.  

This kind of intrusive, dehumanising monitoring represents a horrific abuse of managerial power. 

Safetrac clients include some of Australia’s most well-known brands and most profitable conglomerates: Wesfarmers, Metcash, Toyota, and Football Victoria. 

Workers across the community risk similar invasions on their personal privacy: whether they drive vehicles, work at a desk, provide care to people in need, teach students, build homes or transport cargo: 

“Managers and HR used measures to obfuscate CCTV evidence and weaponize it against me as a Union delegate and a HSR. It is being used more often for performance monitoring with complaints from staff. I am expecting the unexpected every day, its dystopian, 1984 and belittling.”  Transport Worker, VTHC Survey. 

“I am unsure about how much surveillance takes place, not given the option to opt out, unsure of extent of it, staff who report to me are not informed and I was asked to keep it secret” Community Services Professional, VTHC Survey 

“I feel like I can’t stop for a breather, I’m on my feet all day and even just having a sip of water makes me feel guilty”  Hospitality Worker, VTHC Survey 

“Every second of every minute is accounted for. We are given 6 minutes a day outside of breaks to “not be working” - such as stretching, toilet breaks, getting a water or coffee, saying hello to a colleague, taking some time after a bad call.” Call Centre Worker, VTHC Survey. 

“I don't chat to my colleagues as much … I feel like a naughty child in school. All the morale has disappeared.” Retail Worker, VTHC Survey. 

“One of the team leaders I worked with was fired for asking for a break after a seven-hour shift. There is a total lack of respect for staff, while working you are constantly being watched on CCTV cameras placed around the restaurant which they monitor staff [with] from home. Staff would often work 6-7 hours without breaks.” Hospitality Worker, VTHC Survey.  

Just days after the Safetrac operation was revealed, the Transport Workers Union has flagged that Swissport, the aviation services company used at Melbourne and Sydney airports, was planning to rollout its own surveillance initiative. 

The multinational giant has told staff that it seeks to introduce technology that continuously monitors all audio and visual activity on or around their vehicles.  

Workers and their union have called out the company for its deceptive claim that such monitoring was necessary to protect safety. Swissport, in response, has argued that there is no reasonable basis for any employee to have a reasonable expectation of privacy due to the company’s internal policies and Victoria’s lax regulations. 

VTHC will continue to fight for the Victorian Government to take action to protect workers.  

Employers have the right to information directly relevant to the inherent requirements of a role or to secure the safety and security of the worksite. Employers are not agents of law enforcement, psychiatrists or priests – the private lives and personal conversations of working people are none of their business. When a boss pays a worker a wage, they are buying a unit of productive time: an hour, a day or a week of work. Wages do not buy people. Wages do not buy you the right to unlimitedly observe another human being.  

Victoria deserves a system of workplace privacy protections that recognises the dignity of all people engaged in employment. Victoria deserves a Privacy in Working Life Act.