Resisting surveillance: an OHS necessity in schools
AI is making workplace surveillance cheaper, faster, and more intrusive, posing a significant threat to workers’ privacy. This concern was highlighted at the annual Victorian Trades Hall Council HSR Conference on 28 October.
The conference theme, Reps Against the Machine, might not have seemed immediately relevant to education.
However, AEU and IEU members shared many chilling examples of intrusive surveillance, including:
Being required by employers to use personal mobile devices to access employer apps and authentication tools, without clarity on whether personal data is secure from employer access.
Undisclosed recording of lectures and classes to train automated education tools, occurring without compensation.
Being filmed by students and having their images uploaded to public websites.
Discovering hidden files on a school network containing screenshots of their laptops, taken without their knowledge.
HSRs discussed how they can use their legislated powers to ensure employers consult with them before implementing measures like those above, and to guarantee that workers receive all the information necessary to work safely and manage these risks.
Create Against the Machine Art Prize
This 2025 Trades Hall Art Prize also addressed surveillance, control, automation and resistance. The Prize invited artists to use creativity as a tool of resistance, exposing hidden systems and questioning how technology is reshaping the workplace.
The winner, Huei Yin Wong, impressed the judges with Paid Attention, a participatory installation imagining a future dominated by algorithmic management and constant monitoring. The work envisions a machine employer that pays you not for your skill, but for your gaze.
Why does work surveillance matter?
Right now, Australian employers can use AI to gather workers’ personal information – background, health history, even social activity – without breaking privacy laws. That’s because employee records are excluded from the Privacy Act, leaving no legal protection against workplace surveillance.
Worse, this data can be on-sold to advertisers, other employers or third parties. AI is already being used to intimidate, discriminate, and even target union members and delegates.
Victorian workers and their unions are leading the pushback, demanding worker control over surveillance, automation and any tech that reshapes our work. Share your workplace surveillance experiences Trades Hall wants to hear your stories of surveillance or algorithmic decision-making in the workplace.
Share your story to help the campaign to protect workers' health, safety and dignity at work.
