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.
Tyre-maker Goodyear Dunlop has announced it is ending production at its Wearside factory, with the loss of 585 jobs. The company said it could no longer compete with competitors in Eastern Europe and the Far East. Tyres have been produced at the Washington site since 1968, with Goodyear Dunlop taking control in 2004. The company said meetings with union officials representing staff at the plant were ongoing. A further 39 jobs at the company's Wolverhampton plant, which supplies parts to Washington, may also be lost.
Mark Wilson, regional officer of the GMB union, said: "This is devastating news for the workers and their families and for the economy of Tyne and Wear.
'We are seeking an urgent meeting with the company to understand the nature of the problem. We will be exploring every possible avenue to save these jobs, including the possibility of selling the plant as a going concern.'
The factory, near Sunderland, makes tyres for family cars.
Eurofound (2006), Goodyear Dunlop, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 63298, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/63298.