Union launches dedicated tech sector

The Prospect science and specialists’ union has launched an Information Technology and Telecoms sector to help increase union organisation among the growing numbers of workers in the tech field.

The union has been campaigning for some time for a “right to disconnect” for all UK workers amid the increasing expectations of employers that, because of email and other remote technologies, staff will always be available. And last month it published a poll revealing the spread of employee surveillance by employers which showed that one third of workers are now being monitored at work. The union says tech workers are “uniquely impacted by the rise of monitoring technology”.

According to Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy, “tech is changing the way we live and work, including the jobs we do. Despite the promises of some in the tech industry, those changes are not always for the better”.

He added that the union was launching the new sector “to bring together our growing membership in digital technology, and to support a growing ambition from our members to fight for fair pay and better conditions”.

Meanwhile, Prospect and the Unite general union have reached agreement with energy company SSE that their collective bargaining arrangements will be extended to new staff the company is recruiting for a renewable energy project. The staff will work from aboard a service operation vessel to support the Seagreen Wind Farm off Scotland’s east coast.