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.
300 Northern Ireland textile workers at Desmonds were told that the firm would be wound up within six months. This was as a direct consequence of the loss of a Marks & Spencer's contract. A total of 260 jobs will go at the headquarters in Derry and central warehouse in Northern Ireland, as well as 40 in London and elsewhere. Employment at Desmonds had already fallen by 90% since the mid-1990s, and the remaining workers were designing, packaging and distributing garments made in Turkey, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Its annual turnover was almost £ 150 million, and M&S was its sole customer. Kevin McKinney, of Siptu, the union representing most of the Desmonds staff, said the textile industry in the local area had collapsed over the last decade.
Eurofound (2004), Desmonds, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 60365, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/60365.