Negotiating limits on algorithmic management in digitalised services: cases from Germany and Norway
Doellgast, Virginia ; Wagner, Ines ; O'Brady, Sean
Transfer. European Review of Labour and Research
2023
29
1
February
105-120
labour relations ; trade union ; codetermination ; technological change ; digitalisation ; artificial intelligence ; collective bargaining ; employee monitoring ; data protection ; telecommunications ; digitalisation
Technology
https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221143044
English
Bibliogr.
"Artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms are increasingly used to monitor employees and to automate management decisions. In this article, we ask how worker representatives adapt traditional collective voice institutions to regulate the adoption and use of these tools in the workplace. Our findings are based on a comparative study of union and works council responses to algorithmic management in contact centres from two similar telecommunications companies in Germany and Norway. In both case studies, worker representatives mobilised collective voice institutions to protect worker privacy and discretion associated with remote monitoring and workforce management technologies. However, they relied on different sources of institutional power, connected to co-determination rights, enforcement of data protection laws, and labour cooperation structures."
Digital;Paper
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