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.
In great financial difficulty since the start of the year, the Koniambo Nickel Solutions (KNS) plant in New Caledonia, owned by Glencore, has announced that it will be shedding 1,200 jobs by 31 August, in the absence of a buyer. Only around fifty people will remain to keep the plant on ‘cold standby’. Although three groups are showing an interest, no concrete offer has been made. The factory also used subcontractors, employing some 500 additional people.
In March 2024, the government came up with a ‘Nickel pact’ to save this strategic industry, that included subsidies for energy prices, investment in New Caledonia's electricity system and better access to mining resources in the territory. This pact contains respective commitments to be made by the State, local authorities, companies and their shareholders. Its signature was postponed several times. As the Nickel Pact remains on hold, it affects other plants such as the Doniambo ferronickel plant and Prony Resources, both of which are in financial difficulty.
Eurofound (2024), Koniambo Nickel, Closure in France, factsheet number 201438, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/201438.