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.
The company Altifort Innovatech, specialised in the manufacture of separators for the food industry, has been liquidated and its 101 employees will be made redundant in September. No buyer has come forward to take over Altifort Innovatech (ex-GEA), located in Château-Thierry (Aisne).
The day after the announcement, the employees have organised a general meeting, decided to block shipments and gathered at the entrance to the site. They demanded a meeting with their former owner, the German multinational GEA. They believe that they have been deceived by GEA and are demanding the same departure conditions that the employees obtained when Altifort was taken in 2018. The employees have received the support of many elected officials in the region. The president of the Hauts-de-France region, also assured the staff representatives of his support by telephone and promised them that he would intervene directly with the Minister of the Economy to organise a round table discussion.
Eurofound (2020), Altifort Innovatech, Bankruptcy in France, factsheet number 101318, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101318.