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.
Faced with the difficult economic and financial situation of the company, on 5 June Marie Claire management presented an ERE (labour force adjustment plan), which has been handed over to the trade union representatives. The company and the union delegates have begun a round of negotiations to try to reach an agreement, attempting to prevent the company from entering into insolvency proceedings and with it, the closure of the company and the dismissal of its 280 current employees. The company and the union delegates are scheduled to meet again on 9 June. Specifically, the textile company's management has put two options on the table. The first would be to apply an ERE for 190 employees (who would be made redundant) and maintain the company's activity with a minimum workforce of just over 80 people, which would take on the current level of production. The second option would be to go into insolvency proceedings and liquidate the company.
Marie Claire is a century-old textile company in Castellón (Valencian Community, Spain), specialised in the production of stockings and intimate lingerie.
Update 28/06/2023: The unions and the company's management reached an agreement on 28 June. An employment regulation plan (ERE) has been approved, making 190 workers redundant (almost 70% of the workforce). For these workers who are leaving the company, a severance payment of 23 days and 13 months has been agreed. Meanwhile, around 100 people will remain in the company: 72 at the Vilafranca plant (both in production and logistics activities) and another 30 in the Castellón and Valencia offices. In any case, these 100 people will automatically enter into a temporary employment regulation plan (ERTE) until the company obtains sufficient liquidity to continue with a minimum of activity. They will continue for three months in ERTE, with the possibility of agreeing an additional extension of three more, as part of the tender to find an investor group, which the company will present in mid-July.
Eurofound (2023), Marie Claire, Bankruptcy in Spain, factsheet number 109168, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/109168.