Jamie Brown Discusses Worker Surveillance in Michigan Hospitals

In Okemos, Michigan, a joint field hearing took place on Thursday, October 24, organized by the Department of Labor and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The event gathered registered nurses from the Michigan Nurses Association/National Nurses United (MNA/NNU), along with other workers, advocates, and elected officials, to address pressing issues facing the workforce.

During the hearing, Julie Su, Acting Secretary of the Department of Labor, and Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, engaged in discussions with Jamie Brown, MNA President, and various union workers. Their focus was on generating ideas to safeguard workers and establish a financial environment that is fair, transparent, and competitive for all.

President Jamie Brown raised critical concerns about the increasing deployment of worker surveillance technologies in Michigan hospitals:

“Most people who work outside of health care may not know that the hospital industry has already implemented a host of technologies that may utilize AI and collect data on everything that happens in our facilities. Many of these technologies are marketed as tools to improve patient care, but in fact, they track the activities of health care workers like me and frequently violate our privacy and the privacy of our patients.

“Even worse, the data collected is then being used by algorithmic management systems to make unreasonable and inaccurate decisions about patient care and staffing. Those decisions seem driven by a desire to lower labor costs.

“Some NNU nurses in union hospitals are able to bargain over technology, which means that the employer needs to let us know when they’re rolling out new systems.

“They don’t always follow the rules and tell us though, which is why we need strong guidance to protect workers from surveillance.”

National Nurses United, with nearly 225,000 members, is the largest and most rapidly expanding union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. Its affiliates include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.