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.
Siemens Gamesa, a Spanish-German wind engineering company specialised in the manufacturing of wind turbines and onshore/offshore wind services, has announced an employment regulation file (ERE) to eliminate 430 jobs in Spain out of a total of its global payroll of 4,100.
The company has announced 28 May 2024 this employment adjustment to be initially focused on office staff, with a 13% reduction in employment in this area and geographically located in the centres of Sarriguren (Navarre), Zamudio (Basque Country) and Madrid. It is not yet known how the adjustment plan will affect each work centre, but it seems that the company could clarify this in the next Employment Committee, to be scheduled for mid-July.
The unions have rejected the adjustment plan presented by the company, which has demanded a viability plan to avoid these redundancies.
Previous restructuring events in Siemens Gamesa were recorded in 2022 Siemens Gamesa-2022-ES and 2021 Siemens Gamesa-2021-ES
Updated, 19th December 2024: Siemens Gamesa has reduced to 250 the number of job redundancies expected to be implemented in Spain in the first quarter of 2025 (and initially estimated at 430 in May 2024). This reduction by almost half in the number of proposed redundancies has come about thanks to the relocations in other Siemens Energy's expansion areas that have been negotiated over the last few months. The adjustment will focus on office staff at the Sarriguren (Navarre), Zamudio (Basque Country) and Madrid centres. The trade unions, in any case, hope to reduce the impact of the adjustment with internal relocations and incentivised redundancies to avoid traumatic departures.
Eurofound (2024), Siemens Gamesa, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 201217, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/201217.