Surveillance of workers

In Zimbabwe, since the arrest of ZCTU leaders in January 2019 and their subsequent release in November 2019, the ZCTU president, Peter Mutasa, and the secretary general, Japhet Moyo, have both remained a target of state persecution. Even though the charges against them were withdrawn in November 2019, their cell phones remained confiscated and their bail deposits have not been refunded. Prosecution insisted that the police were still investigating the ZCTU leadership. Peter Mutasa was placed on the most-wanted persons list by the police, while the homes of ZCTU leaders were constantly monitored by the police.

In September 2020, Amazon in the United States posted and abruptly deleted a job listing on its site for two intelligence analysts to monitor sensitive, confidential topics, “including labour organising threats against the company.” Following public outcry from civil rights and workers’ organisations, the company called the posts an “error” and removed them from their website.

Despite being one of the largest and most-profitable companies in the world, Amazon's employees are not represented by a union of any sort. The company, known to be fiercely anti-union, resorted to underhanded tactics like spying on pro-union workers and sending explicitly anti-union propaganda mail to would-be union members.

In June 2020, Facebook, based in the United States, came under heavy criticism by trade unions for introducing a new tool on Facebook Workplace, a site where employees can view a stream of content similar to a news feed, with automatically generated trending topics based on what people are posting about. The new tool allowed administrators to remove and block certain trending topics among employees. In its launch presentation, Facebook offered one example of a topic employers might find it useful to blacklist: the word “unionise.” Faced with a flurry of criticism for facilitating anti-union strategies, the company took down its presentation the following day.

In December 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the United States, after a year-long investigation, filed a complaint against Google for violating U.S. labour laws. Google was accused of illegally spying on workers and questioning them before terminating staff who had attempted to form a union and had organised employees’ protests in 2019. The NLRB complaint absolved two fired employees of any wrongdoing and found that Google repeatedly violated U.S. labour law by using “terminations and intimidation in order to quell workplace activism”. It also found that Google’s accessing of workers’ calendars and other internal documents constituted unlawful surveillance. The case was expected to be heard and decided by an administrative law judge during 2021.

In France, IKEA appeared in criminal court in March 2021 for having used illegal practices to monitor employees on a large scale, based on a complaint filed by Force Ouvrière (FO) in 2012. After eight years of investigation, the company was charged with illegally collecting confidential information on hundreds of people across the country, including union representatives, calling on private agencies to obtain confidential information from the records of the national police. FO delegates were particularly targeted. In 2010-2011, the press revealed the infiltration of two fake employees in the Franconville shop where FO was very well established and at the origin of a massive strike in 2010. These infiltrators were allegedly tasked with gaining the trust of their colleagues and reporting their actions to management. The hearings were due to be held until April 2021.

Summit Autotech Poland in Skoczków placed a camera in the office space used by Solidarność on the premises of the company for its trade union activities. The device, first mistaken for a motion detector, was in fact a camera recording image and sound and was connected to the main monitoring system of the company. The camera was promptly removed, and Solidarność pressed charges with the prosecutor’s office in October 2020 for illegal wiretapping.

In the United Kingdom, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In Slovakia, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In Poland, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In Italy, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In Germany, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In France, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In the Czech Republic, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In Austria, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

In December 2020, Spanish union CC.OO. took legal action against Amazon and the detective agency hired by the company for spying on striking workers at the multinational's plant in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona).

On 30 June 2020, China’s top legislature unanimously passed a new National Security Law for Hong Kong that entered into force in the territory the same day, just before midnight. Under the law, the authorities have at their disposal a broad range of powers with absolutely no checks and balances to ensure the rule of law, respect for fundamental rights and due process. Investigating authorities can, among other exorbitant powers, search properties, censor online content and engage in covert surveillance, including intercepting communications, all without a court order. The authorities can also require information from organisations and individuals, even if the information in question may be self-incriminating. Anyone failing to comply can be fined or imprisoned. The Hong Kong Police Force has already established a new national security division to conduct covert surveillance.

So far, 53 of the most prominent pro-democracy activists, including the chair of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), Carol Ng, have been arrested in a massive police crackdown. Carol Ng was arrested at home on 6 January 2021 by the national security department for an alleged “attempt to subvert the state power” under the 2020 National Security Law. Winnie Yu, chair of Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA), was also arrested. The group stood accused of organising and participating in the primary elections for pro-democracy candidates in last year’s postponed elections. This was the largest political purge against the democrats since the enforcement of the National Security Law.

In Iran, members of independent trade unions were routinely subject to state surveillance and harassment, including Parvin Mohammadi, vice president of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, who had just been released conditionally from prison in April 2020, having served one year in Kachouii prison in Karaj for “propaganda against the state”.