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By Harriette Halepis

Source acquired via The Age, Victoria, Australia, April, 4, 2010 – Ever since companies began tracking employees via GPS, union officials across the world have protested tracking technology. But, what happens when union officials begin using GPS tracking technology to track each other? One union boss located in Victoria, Australia, is about to find out what tracking a fellow union member legally constitutes.

GPS Tracking & Unions

Joan Doyle, a Hobsons Bay Council union boss in Victoria, Australia, decided to track the whereabouts of union councillor John Hogg using a GPS tracker. When Hogg discovered the tracking device, he immediately filed for an intervention order against Doyle. Even though Doyle told press last year that the union has “…a number of GPSs that we use for a number of purposes…” the placement of a GPS tracker on a union vehicle is not approved by the union as a whole.

Many await the outcome of the Doyle vs. Hogg trial. While the Hobsons Bay Council union does not approve of the use of GPS trackers, some argue that a union boss has the right to track union officials. As with those companies that have begun tracking various employees (legally), Doyle wanted to ensure that Hogg was logging true working hours. Still, many believe that Doyle did not have the authority to track Hogg, since Hogg was not a direct employee of Doyle’s.

If Doyle is legally allowed to get away with tracking Hogg, this case will open the doors for other people in similar positions around the world. Do union bosses have the right to track councillors? Is this a case of an employee/employer relationship? Does the fact that Doyle told press that GPS trackers were being used excuse her from tracking Hogg?

This case has yet to be tried, but if Doyle is found guilty she faces a severe penalty. Anyone who violates the Surveillance Devices Act can be fined up to $28,036 in addition to two years in jail. Doyle is attempting to keep the case from going public by making press statements such as “…this is internal union business,” though it will be hard to keep this case from the public eye. For now, the tracking of another person without that person’s knowledge remains illegal, though this case may prove to add a few amendments to Australia’s Surveillance Devices Act.