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.
Combinatul de Oţeluri Speciale (COS) Târgovişte, Romania's leading steel producers, has announced a restructuring involving 1,200 job losses . The restructuring process is due to the different commercial and economic constraints including declining demand due to COVID-19 and company insolvency.
The Board of Directors will be empowered to prepare a closure/reorganization plan, as well as to negotiate termination of employment contracts, either by agreement of the parties or by dismissal, within the limits of available financial resources.
One representative of Valahia Trade Union commented that there is no date set when the collective layoffs will start. In addition, the Trade Union representative mentioned that the workers do not have a collective agreement, and employers / owners relied on the insolvency law. In August 2020, the Romanian Prime Minister, Mr. Ludovic Orban announced that the Government has solutions which will be analyzed.
In February 2013, an application for reorganization was granted for Mechel Targovişte and the overall insolvency procedure was opened. That was after it was also made public in February 2013 that Mechel (a mining and metals company, comprising producers of coal, iron ore in concentrate, steel, rolled steel products from Russia) sold all its assets in Romania for $70 to a Romanian company.
In December 2019, the court confirmed the plan for the reorganization of Combinatul de Oţeluri Speciale (COS) Târgovişte.
Eurofound (2020), COS Targoviste, Closure in Romania, factsheet number 101651, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101651.