Ethics in the digital workplace
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, the British company specialising in manufacturing aircraft tyres, has announced plans for a restructure that is expected to lead up to 199 redundancies and the creation of 21 new jobs at the company’s factory in Erdington, England, according to the GMB trade union.
The management justified the internal restructuring affirming that there had been a "sharp reduction" in demand for the company’s products due to the COVID-19 crisis and the company's current staffing costs were unsustainable.
A representative of the GMB trade union said the reduction in the volume of orders was likely to be only “short-term” and the union was ready for negotiations.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres was founded in 1910 and it is currently a world-operating supplier of tyres for civil and military aircraft.
Eurofound (2020), Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 101313, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101313.