5. Filling the Gaps – Bargaining Topic Suggestions Existing law does not fully address many of the practical problems created by AI, monitoring technologies, and da­ta-driven management at work. Collective bargaining is therefore an important way for unions to address these gaps. This section provides examples of negotiating themes that unions may draw on when developing their own de­mands to regulate how digital systems affect working con­ditions. 1. If the employer has introduced geo-fencing by man­dating employees to download certain applications on their mobile devices which enables them to track your movement and record attendance, clock in and out of work, register sick days, holidays and change shifts, workers can bargain for the following: → Restrictions on collection: That the app cannot collect location data outside of working hours or during break hours. Workers must have the right of access to the logged data. → The employer must provide an alternative for employ­ees or workers(other than platform workers) who do not have a smartphone to install such an application → Natural justice principles: If such geo-fencing data is used to decide salary and pay of employees and work­ers, then the employer must provide a redressal mech­anism when such a system is inaccurate, or failures occur in the system. Natural justice principles must be followed by an employer while taking any punitive ac­tion against workers or employees. → Rights of Access: That the worker and their represent­ative must receive a copy of the data, if the employer is using it in disciplinary cases. For example, if the employer claims that data from the app shows that the worker is taking longer breaks than permitted, or is stopping work early, the worker and his or her repre­sentative must have access to this raw data. 2. If the employer has introduced Facial Recognition Technology(FRT): → Where female employees are uncomfortable with re­cording images via FRT, alternative mechanisms must be provided by the employer to record attendance. 47 3. If the employer has introduced CCTV surveil­lance: → CCTV cannot be set up in changing rooms, lock­er rooms, nursing rooms and washrooms where employees and workers have a reasonable ex­pectation of privacy. 48 → Employees must be informed prior to installation of CCTV cameras at the workplace → Information and footage collected by CCTVs can only be used for security, safety and labour com­pliances under laws and should not be used to monitor the work performance of the employee. 4. If the worker is adversely affected by an auto­mated decision , they can request human review on the grounds that natural justice principles dictate that he is entitled to a fair hearing and a reasoned decision for any action taken against him. 5. Workers may bargain for their employers to noti­fy and certify standing orders under the IR Code, 2020 . Some of the key topics that are mandated to be covered through standing orders include termi­nation, suspension, dismissal and grievance redres­sal. During the consultation process for certifying standing orders, the following terms may be sought by trade unions and worker representatives from employers: d. Human oversight over automated decisions : Unions must push for human oversight and rea­soned orders over every automated decision that may result in a negative change in employment status of a worker. Measures must be put in place to ensure that such a human review is not merely mechanical, but is a decision taken inde­pendent of the automated decision. f. Access to data during disciplinary proceedings : Unions must push for clauses that allow for workers to access the data used by the employer during disciplinary proceedings, to allow them to effectively represent their case. For example, if the employer claims that data from the app shows that the worker is taking longer. 47  Mahesh Kumar Koli v. State of M.P., 2025 SCC OnLine MP 1773. 48  Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh, AIR 2021 SC 64. Filling the Gaps – Bargaining Topic Suggestions 23