Guidelines for Employee Data Privacy Protections
New operational principles aimed at protecting workers' data rights have been introduced, and they align with the Ten Principles for Ethical AI. These principles are not linked to any specific industry or sector, and they are not associated with any particular organization or company.
The operational principles are intended to be applied in the context of work and focus on several key areas. Workers should have control over their personal data, and there should be transparency in how data is collected and used. Protection against surveillance and invasive monitoring is also a crucial aspect of these principles.
Furthermore, the principles aim to ensure that workers have the right to benefit financially from data generated through their work. Data privacy should be aligned with human and labor rights, and collective bargaining rights over data use agreements should be established. Mechanisms for accountability and redress are also included, as well as the integration of data rights in human rights due diligence.
To further strengthen these principles, capacity building for workers and unions to understand and enforce data rights is encouraged. Ethical governance frameworks integrating workers’ perspectives are also part of the operational principles.
These principles are designed to be integrated into collective bargaining, Global Framework Agreements, and multinational alliances. While the operational principles have not been named or detailed in the given text, they likely emphasize the following ten principles:
- Workers’ control over their personal data.
- Transparency in how data is collected and used.
- Protection against surveillance and invasive monitoring.
- Rights to benefit financially from data generated through work.
- Data privacy aligned with human and labor rights.
- Collective bargaining rights over data use agreements.
- Mechanisms for accountability and redress.
- Inclusion of data rights in human rights due diligence.
- Capacity building for workers and unions to understand and enforce data rights.
- Ethical governance frameworks integrating workers’ perspectives.
These principles complement the Ten Principles for Ethical AI, which broadly cover transparency, fairness, accountability, privacy, and respect for human rights in AI deployment. The layering of workers’ data rights principles under the broader ethical AI framework ensures that AI systems respect workers' dignity, privacy, and economic interests, and that unions and workers have real power in regulating AI applications in the workplace.
The establishment of centers like the Human Rights Due Diligence Competence Centre, involving UNI Global Union, supports this integration by enabling unions to hold corporations accountable under due diligence laws that cover AI and data practices impacting workers.
While an explicit published list of UNI Global Union’s Top Ten Principles for Workers' Data Rights was not found, the principles revolve around transparency, worker control, economic rights to data, and integration with human rights frameworks, which together align closely with broader ethical AI principles emphasizing human dignity, fairness, and accountability in AI systems affecting workers.
[1] Ajunwa, A. (2020). Recognizing Worker Data as Property: A New Framework for Worker Voice in the Gig Economy. Columbia Business Law Review, 2020(4), 759-816.
[2] UNI Global Union. (2021). Human Rights Due Diligence Competence Centre. Retrieved from https://www.uniglobalunion.org/en/our-work/human-rights-due-diligence-competence-centre
- In the realm of business and finance, these operational principles strive to ensure that workers have an opportunity to financially benefit from the data generated through their work, mirroring the importance of economic rights in self-development and education-and-self-development contexts.
- Additionally, the principles emphasize the importance of workers having control over their personal data, advocating for transparency, protection from surveillance, and respect for human rights, concepts that resonate not only in the realm of AI ethics but also in wider discussions on education and self-development.
