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 meat processing company Nijland Food in Goor has been declared bankrupt. About 180 people are to lose their job. Supermarket chain Nettorama has left the company as a customer: it represented around 50% of the poultry department sales. Nijland Food’s vegetarian department was also no longer profitable, likely due to low market prices. Sister companies Newland Food and Pasman Food are also bankrupt, and a curator has been appointed to organise the final matters relating to the bankruptcy.
The 180 employees consist of 80 full-time and 100 part-time employees. All the employees will lose their position but there is currently no information about proceedings or a social plan for these employees.
Nijland Food was founded in 1978 and produces and packages chicken and vegetarian products for retail, industry, and food service throughout North-West Europe. The business has clients in the Netherlands, England, Ireland, and Belgium.
Eurofound (2021), Nijland Food, Bankruptcy in Netherlands, factsheet number 106018, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/106018.