Mass Police/Fire Chiefs May Be Required To Notify Unions Before Installing GPS Devices
In a decision of groundbreaking importance to public employee unions in Massachusetts, the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) affirmed that public employers cannot implement Global Positioning Systems (GPS) without completing labor negotiations first.
In the case of Springfield, attached below, the City secretly implemented a GPS in Department of Public Works vehicles. The GPS devices provided the City with continuous, real-time information about drivers’ job performance and productivity, including where they were, the distances they drove, how fast they were going, how many stops they made and how long they idled. The City used this information to reprimand the Union president about allegedly conducting union business on work time.
The CERB - which oversees public employee labor relations - agreed that, in these circumstances, the City had an obligation to tell the Union before installing the GPS devices and an obligation to negotiate with them prior to installing them. The CERB agreed that the GPS devices did not, as the City contended, merely change how the City enforced existing rules on attendance and productivity. Prior to the GPS devices being installed, DPW workers were not required to provide real-time documentation of their activity on the job. Furthermore, the sheer volume of information collected by GPS devices is significant. The GPS devices, therefore, signified a dramatic change in how DPW workers were and could be evaluated.
This decision represents the first time that CERB examined the bargaining obligations for GPS devices. While the decision is applicable to all public employers, the issue is most likely to arise in the context of public safety and other jobs that involve vehicles (such as DPW workers). Police and fire unions may wish to consider requesting information as to whether the Chief has installed GPS-type devices and demanding to bargain about the decision and the impacts of any decision to use GPS.
