The British government is forcing some public employees to clock in with fingerprint scanners
On Thursday, hundreds of tunnel workers plan on refusing
to cooperate with a new fingerprint clock-in
system. After the measure was announced the workers took a vote, resulting in
an overwhelming 98% majority voting to reject the new system.
The
following notice was posted to their website:
“We
congratulate our members on their determination to resist this draconian attack
on civil liberties. We instruct our members to take industrial action short of
strikes from 00:01 on Thursday 19 September 2013 until further notice, by
booking on and off duty using the established method and not using the biometric
machines.”[1]
The
employees are still planning on coming to work, but will use the traditional
hand written time cards that they have used in the past, instead of signing in
with fingerprint scanners.
“We
believe this technology infringes on staff civil liberties and the overwhelming
vote in favor of action shows our members’ strength of feeling on this
issue,” said Bob Crow, RMT’s general secretary.
But
Adam Wurf, communications director for ISS UK told the BBC: “With this
technology we will be able to guarantee that the member of staff is who they say
they are.”
“We
don’t think this is draconian or an infringement of civil liberties; it’s about
making sure we have the right people – verified and trained – in the right place
at the right time.”[2]
When
governments roll out these plans they always have an excuse, and will always say
that it is in the public’s best interest. However, if 98% of workers who will
be affected are opposed to this measure, there is obviously a reason.
Fingerprint scanning technology and biometric tracking are very controversial
topics right now, with many people from many different walks of life rejecting
this technology.
