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.
Norwegian Air Shuttle, the Norwegian low-cost airline, has announced the closure of its long-haul service in Europe due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airline sector, which will entail a worldwide restructuring. As a result, 485 employees in Spain who operate long-haul services will be affected in the coming months. The company has regretted the situation generated by the pandemic: Norwegian's total passenger traffic decreased by 98% in Spain during 2020.
Norwegian has three of its Spanish subsidiaries (Norwegian Air Resources Spain, Red Handling Spain and Red Maintenance Spain) in pre-insolvency proceedings. The vast majority of the company's workforce in Spain has been affected by temporary collective redundancies for months.
Updated, 14/06/2021:
Norwegian and the unions have reached an agreement on the collective redundancy plan that will finally affect 216 employees, reducing the initial proposal of redundancies (485). This process will initially be voluntary and, if the agreed number is not reached, there will be forced redundancies. The plan includes severances of 30 days per year worked, with the legal minimum being 20 days. In addition, this agreement guarantees the maintenance of Norwegian's two bases in Spain (Malaga and Alicante).
Eurofound (2021), Norwegian, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 103521, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/103521.