Company rules out driver-facing monitor in response to nationwide concerns from engineers…
Acting CWU National Officer Fiona Curtis has thanked Engineering members and Branches for their “unity and determination” against inward facing cameras inside Openreach engineers’ vehicles, after a grassroots backlash led to a public disavowal of the idea by the company.
Speaking to Your Voice, Fiona reported: “Less than 24 hours after we launched our campaign against inward-facing cameras, it was good to see the immediate response in a statement by Openreach HR director Kevin Brady posted on the company’s Workplace platform stating: ‘I want to personally assure you that we have no plans to introduce inward-facing dashcams’. In his statement, Mr Brady explained that this monitoring system is ‘widely used across industries similar to ours with large fleets’ and that ‘it’s something the health and safety team have explored’.
“It was also good,” she continued, “to see Mr Brady’s further clarification when he concluded: ‘We decided several weeks ago that we are not going to roll out dashcams and we have no plans to introduce them. We’ll continue to explore ways to make sure everyone gets home safe and well’.
Fiona comments: “It would’ve been great to have been given this assurance ‘several weeks ago’, when we were seeking this clarification from the company amid rising concerns from our members and we look forward to Openreach responding to our letter asking for this confirmation.
However, we warmly welcome Mr Brady’s statement and his commitment to continuing to explore ways of improving Engineers’ safety and wellbeing – this is something which we are also fully committed to improving.
Since it was first mooted as a possibility by senior company leaders at the end of 2023 – and again on the Workplace platform – this issue had rapidly become the Number One subject of concern to Field Engineers, with a related motion adopted at CWU Young Workers Conference in January and Branches discussing motions on this for submission to CWU Annual Conference in April.
“It’s our view,” Fiona continues “that it’s been this huge and unprecedented backlash against the idea – culminating in the launch of the CWU campaign on Monday – that has led to this possibility being ruled out. And for that we have to thank our Engineering members and Branches for making their views clearly known, as well as our CWU Openreach National Team and national leadership for their determination to reach a solution on this.
“This shows once again the crucial importance of having a strong and well-organised
trade union, the CWU, working on behalf of you, the workers.”
Click on Image for PDF of the original publication.