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.
US cable manufacturer, Amphenol ConneXUS, has announced the closure of its production plant in Narva, Eastern Estonia. The closure will result in 130 job losses, mainly assembly line positions.
The reason for the closure is the decreasing serial production of cable products, with Estonia no longer seen as a suitable context for large-scale manufacturing. Instead, the company will focus on technical engineering activities and relocate the manufacturing plants to other European countries with more favourable conditions.
It has not been specified where, nor when the relocation will happen. The head of the regional branch of the Unemployment Insurance Fund has reported this to be the largest job reduction in the area this year and they are actively helping dismissed workers to find new jobs.
Amphenol ConneXUS specializes in the manufacturing, design, and sales of cable and internet connection products and opened the Narva production plant in 2004.
Eurofound (2023), Amphenol ConneXus, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Estonia, factsheet number 108759, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/108759.