Council Hears Drawbacks
Tech Guild Says Scanners Bring 'Big Brother' to Job

By MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

Civil Service Technical Guild President Claude Fort protested May 8 the use of biometric palm-scanning devices to track workers on the job at a joint City Council Civil Service and Labor and Contract committees hearing.

The Chief-Leader/Alana Marcu AN UNWARRANTED INTRUSION: Civil Service Technical Guild President Claude Fort (center) tells a City Council hearing that the palm-scanners being used in some city agencies subject employees to being 'watched, tracked and recorded in every moment of their workday.'

Mr. Fort claims that the devices are a fiscal extravagance at a time when the city needs to be thrifty, and an invasion of privacy and workers' rights. The palm-scanner provider holds a contract valued at up to $489 million.

'Time for a Reality Check'

"The City of New York is putting into place an extremely expensive surveillance system at a time when budgets for critical needs such as education and housing are being cut," Mr. Fort said. "It's time for a reality check. Do we really need to be spending half a billion dollars on palm-scanners, voice and fingerprint recognition, and other surveillance technologies when simple electronic timesheets, which are already part of the CityTime system, work just as well?"

Joseph P. Addabbo, the chair of the Civil Service and Labor Committee, said that his primary concern with CityTime was the cost.

Contracts Committee Chair Letitia James expressed skepticism about how an initial CityTime contract worth $63 million grew to its current expenditure of $278 million. Union officials claim it will reach $489 million - a figure city officials scoffed at - over the next 15 months as the system is introduced at other agencies.

Claims Long-Term Savings

Office of Payroll Administration Executive Director Joel Bondy said that the budget increased because of that expansion. He maintained that CityTime would save the city more than $60 million annually once it is fully implemented by eliminating a manual, paper-based process.

He also addressed concerns that the palm-scanning is invasive and unsanitary. "The system is extremely flexible," Mr. Bondy said. He pointed out that while the system does round off by the quarter-hour, someone clocking in at 9:03 a.m. and clocking out at 4:57 p.m. would be compensated for working 9 to 5, one instance where the rounding would work to an employee's benefit. The Tech Guild, which is Local 375 of the District Council 37, has objected that there are other situations in which employees would be credited with less time than they actually worked.

In regard to the palm-scanner, Mr. Bondy said that it is actually more sanitary than touching a door knob. "The platen of each scanner is permanently coated with an antimicrobial agent called 'biocote,' developed by the health-care industry and proved to reduce bacteria, mold and fungi on the platen by up to 99.9 percent."

'Paints Unhealthy Picture'

Local 375 Vice President Jon Forster, disagreed, claiming the scanners were covered with slime, spit, grime, "and at times blood." He also objected to the scanner on principle, claiming it was an intrusive way for management to monitor every employee.

"We are not happy about working in what is beginning to look more and more like a police state," said Mr. Fort.

Mr. Bondy countered that this was not the administration's intention. "It simply replaces existing processes with ones that are more accurate, efficient and paperless," he said. "We are committed to tracking the time worked by our employees and paying them accurately on that basis."

"It is important for us not only as a union, but also as a society, to begin to draw some lines about what is and what is not acceptable in the use of surveillance technology," said Local 375 First Vice President John Forster. "The use of GPS in ambulances may make sense to coordinate fast emergency response, but it is not okay for individual city employees to be watched, tracked, timed and recorded in every moment of their workday, lunch hour, and beyond."