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Council to fingerprint staff as they clock in
Danny Brierley and Katharine Barney12 Sep 2008
Hundreds of staff at a London council are set to be fingerprinted before they are allowed to work.
The Westminster workers will "clock in" by scanning their fingerprints in what is believed to be the first scheme of its type in Britain.
But today civil liberties and data protection watchdogs warned the scheme had "Big Brother" overtones and should be abandoned.
Some of the workers affected are already considering industrial action over the plan. About 200 employees in the street management services department, including the borough's road sweepers, will be asked to provide their fingerprints.
A source at the authority said staff would have to swipe a finger across a wall-mounted box linked to a computer system. The prints would then be logged and matched against staff records.
Unlike traditional clocking-in machines, employees will not be able to dodge the system by getting others to swipe in for them.
The council says it wants to protect staff by making sure they know where they are. But Unison, the public sector union, argued that the council was introducing the machines because it did not trust its staff.
The source said: "The computer will work out who is, and who is not, where they should be.
"Very quickly managers will be able to work out if there are any gaps in attendance - in other words if someone is skiving or not."
The revelation will add to growing public concern a b out how personal data is collected, stored and used by organisations.
Privacy campaigners claim the Government is eroding Britain's traditional freedoms with creeping surveillance and data collection.
In July, plans for a massive database that would detail every phone call, email, text message, internet search and on-line purchase in the fight against terrorism and other serious crime were condemned as a step too far. The loss of personal data records held by several government agencies has further eroded the public's trust.
Civil liberties campaign group Liberty said there was no guarantee that the details of Westminster employees would not be passed to police. Policy director Gareth Crossman said: "This is excessive, unnecessary and disproportionate. Anyone who does give their fingerprints to their employer should be aware that these things invariably become a source for the police.
"Fingerprinting used to be something we did to criminals but now we do it to everyone from children returning their library books to road sweepers."
Union representatives have labelled the fingerprinting at Westminster "Orwellian" and warned workers not to use the biometric devices. They are seeking talks with senior managers.
Stephen Higgins, Westminster Unison assistant branch secretary, said: "We simply do not trust the city council to hold this information securely and see no justification for such a scheme."
Phil Vaughan, the union's branch secretary at Westminster, said the system was "based on mistrust".
He added: "We can see no justifiable reason why it is necessary for the council to obtain such personal data, and Westminster Unison shall resist such draconian measures."
Dean Ingledew, Westminster's director of community protection, said: "As an employer we have a duty of care to know where our staff are, that they are safe and that council taxpayers are getting value for money from staff who are working properly.
"The system mainly applies to members of staff who are street-based and often work alone and late at night and many say they actually feel safer with this system because if anyone fails to sign in or out it is flagged up immediately and calls are made to find out where they are."
The Information Commissioner's Office said: "The collection of more and more personal data represents a greater potential risk to individuals."
Reader views (14)
This could be a lifesaver if there were evere a fire in a council building, by giving an instant record of who has got out safely.
They should be thanking the council, not moaning at them.
- Sara Connor, westminster, 14/09/2008 12:41
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Please may I reply to Mr Fred Kneeling,
Question?
Do you have a plasic credit or bank card, and do you have a plastic driving licence card?.
If the answer to the above is yes, think of this, does your driving licence stop you from speeding over the limit set, or put it another way does your bank card stop other people getting access to your details?.
If your answer to these questions is NO, then why should I.D. cards stop evil doing what its doing .... plastic cards no matter what will not do that, so why waste billions of pounds on it.
The big question is what can we do to stop these people from doing wrong, the answer is the justice system and the deterrent set that will put fear into those who may be thinking about doing wrong then turn the other way. I.D. cards will not deter its only plastic?.
- J.L., Scarborough. N. Yks., 14/09/2008 11:59
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Hello London,
Please may I reply to Paul Wilson who expressed his view, and I will tell him why this is a bad Idea?.
Firstly, swipe clock cards are the best way to go and not finger prints, when you swipe in for work it shows who's in and who's not on the managers computer screen. We are not under arrest and yet the people working for councils must feel they have done somthing wrong if finger-prints are taken.
Secondly, All councils now have a habit of selling off details from there data-base, from addresses, phone numbers, post-codes, number of people in a house, any data which is at there disposal and in my view should be kept safe not open to anyone who wants to buy it, including finger-prints.
Finally, our own Govenment can't hold on to data and the councils holding our data can't wait to make money from selling it, my point why should they be allowed to. People say if you have done nothing wrong why worry, thats my point again, People who have done no wrong should not be targeted as if they have, it should be the job of a manager to make sure people are where they are, not to treat people as criminals..... its a disgrace, and would you Mr wilson like it if your finger prints were used, sold, or stolen I don't think so?.
- J.L., Scarborough. N. Yks., 13/09/2008 11:11
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To Paul Wilson:
Its a bad idea because it is yet more sensitive and private information that we are handing over to the state without asking anything back in return (accountability, privacy laws).
- James Dodds, London, UK, 13/09/2008 10:39
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bring it on. and perhaps they can also catch the illegals amongst them and boot them out too. a little too much to hope for i guess.
- Squiz, Islington, 12/09/2008 22:25
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I was so infuriated when I read your article today.all jobs are based on the trust between the employee and employer at all times.westminster is showing to its street based staff that it can not trust even its staff and will destroy staff morale and staff will be under suspicion and will leave.westminster should not be big brother which will breach civil and human rights.
- Jim, south devon, 12/09/2008 21:26
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I believe it is a good idea, i also believe everbbody should have an identity card.
Why are Civil Liberties people so against it. We need to be able to live safely and not be murdered or robbed in various ways including overcharging by Councils or any others for that matter because their staff are fidding hours etc.
It is only Us working people who pay for all in all ways.
- Fred Keeling, Upmimster, Essex, 12/09/2008 19:25
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Sodexho implemented this sytem called TMS 6 months ago at Kings College Hospital in Camberwell South East London, for 600 of the catering & cleaning staff, and it's saved the taxpapyer a fortune, as less people can skive off now.
- N Grinsell, london, 12/09/2008 17:47
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Fantastic idea, everyone knows how lazy most council workers are.
And as many of them remind us "health and safety" will be covered by this now, you would think they'd be happy wouldnt you?
- P I Staker, london, 12/09/2008 17:43
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It's a bad idea because that computerized fingerprint can be copied and abused. A criminal employee could plant it to shift the blame onto someone else. It's also easy to create a fake fingerprint in gelatine, should you have someone else covering up for you at work while you skive.
This is ID cards and a Stalinist society getting ever closer. If someone is skiving off work, it's the absence of their face that ought to be noticed.
I would suggest that Westminster council employees fight back using the data protection act to request all fingerprint-use records for themselves each month every month, so they can check that the records by which their bosses are judging them are accurate. If everyone did that, it would paralyze their systems, and good riddance!
- Nigel, London, 12/09/2008 16:52
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I can Paul; it's because it's a stepping stone towards a totalitarian state where we are forced to be microchipped in order to be considered valid, bona fide citizens.
- Neil, london uk, Airstrip ONE ., 12/09/2008 15:42
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Paul
My thoughts exactly. Could it be that Unison want this stopped because they know that a majority of their members are workshy and lazy?? Why else could they possibly object......
- Les Savin, Enfield, Middlesex, 12/09/2008 15:07
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How secure will the IT system be that stores the fingerprints? This Government's track record on IT security is dire.
Issue swipe cards to all staff and make it gross misconduct if any member of staff swipes in another persons card.
Then introduce a working system whereby a supervisor actually takes charge and control of the staff that they have working for them.
- Ian Gilbertson, Newcastle, 12/09/2008 14:38
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The source said: "The computer will work out who is, and who is not, where they should be. "Very quickly managers will be able to work out if there are any gaps in attendance - in other words if someone is skiving or not."
Can someone tell me why this is a bad idea?
- Paul Wilson, London, UK, 12/09/2008 11:13
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