Negotiating digitalised workplaces : rights and obligations, Ireland

This report is written for workers, union representatives, and negotiators in Ireland, where digital technologies are expanding rapidly across public and private sectors. Despite a strong regulatory framework - particularly in data protection, occupational safety and health, and information and consultation - gaps exist and enforcement of current legal provisions must be improved.

The report helps unions move from reactive enforcement to preventive engagement. It explains how Irish and EU law applies to workplace surveillance, algorithmic management, and AI systems, and how these rules can be used strategically in discussions with management.

The report includes a checklist of key questions based on legal rights that workers and unions can use before a new technology is introduced and periodically while it is being used. These questions are intended to structure negotiations, demand information, and prevent technologies from being imposed unilaterally or expanded without consent.

The purpose of the report is practical and strategic: it aims to support workers and unions in understanding what digitalisation means for their rights, to strengthen their position in discussions with management, and to help turn abstract legal protections into concrete, enforceable workplace standards.