The unions - CGIL and Camusso in the lead - together with the political opposition raise a furious controversy over the rule on remote controls contained in the decree implementing the Jobs Act but today a note from the Ministry of Labour, signed by Minister Poletti dismantles the tussle and clarifies how things really are.
According to some interpretations of the report sent by the Government to the House and Senate, in fact, companies will be able to carry out checks on its employees through audiovisual systems (PCs, tablets, company phones) without having entered into prior trade union agreements, but only by handing workers a privacy policy document informing them of the use of these tools.
Today the Ministry of Labor clarifies by explaining that the law in question "does not liberalize controls on workers and is in line with the indications that the Privacy Guarantor and, in particular, with the 2007 guidelines on the use of e-mail and of the internet”.
"The rule on audiovisual systems and other control tools contained in the draft legislative decree on the subject of simplifications - reads the note from the Ministry, which can be read in the attached link in the full version - adapts the legislation contained in article 4 of the Workers' Statute, dating back to 1970, to the technological innovations that have occurred in the meantime".
"Like the original provision of the Statute - continues the note - this new provision also provides that the remote control instruments, from which the possibility of controlling workers also derives, can be installed exclusively for organizational and production needs, for the safety of work and for the protection of corporate assets; and exclusively with the union's agreement or, failing that, with the authorization of the Territorial Directorate of Labor or the Ministry”.
“Therefore, it should be reiterated – concludes the ministry – no remote control is authorized; rather, it just clarifies how to use the t toolstechnologies used for work performance and the usability limits of the data collected with these tools. The new article 4, moreover, strengthens and protects the position of the worker even better than in the past, requiring that the worker be given adequate information about the existence and methods of use of the control equipment".
Before the clarification from the ministry led by Giuliano Poletti arrived, controversy had exploded, especially in the CGIL house. The leader of the trade union organization Susanna Camusso, had defined the regulation on remote monitoring as "spying against workers" and said she was "ready to intervene and evaluate everything that can be done, we will start with the commissions, we will consult the authorities, we will evaluate judicial appeals, we will continue the mobilization and above all the bargaining". A storm in a teacup, but perhaps even the media, before passively riding the sensationalism of unfounded controversies, would do well to read the texts and document themselves.
Here is the government statement, for clarity.
