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.
Nestlé announced on 12 May 2004 the closure of its production site in Saint-Menet to be effective by the end of June 2005. The site employs 427 workers and manufactures soluble coffee and chocolate bars. Following the announcement, the workers blockaded the truck entrance of the factory. Legal, a company specialized in coffee, declared it could have been interested in taking over some parts of the production site. However, Nestlé refused the transfer on 21 May 2004 and the tribunal of Marseille suspended the closure on 28 July 2004 because of a lack of information. Reason evoked is a fall of the orders since the beginning of 2004. The workers are still waiting for their lot.
Eurofound (2004), Nestlé, Closure in France, factsheet number 60466, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/60466.