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.
Delphi, a manufacturer of car components, is to close its factory in Puerto Real, Cadiz. The site currently employs 1,600 people. The company has gone into receivership in the US, due in part to the crisis of General Motors. In November 2006, after negotiations with the city council of Puerto Real and the trade unions, Delphi agreed to dismiss 400 people by the end of 2008 and to close down the site in 2010. However, the plant closed much sooner (end of April 2007), causing 1,600 direct dismissals. According to the company's spokesperson, the site had no future and the Spanish division seemed to be unable to absorb its continuous losses. The company expressed its willingness to negotiate with trade unions and the public administration in order to smooth the vast social consequences of this measure. The Spanish Ministry of Industry is taking part in the process. As a matter of fact, the Junta de Andalucia (the Regional Government of Andalucia) and the Spanish government are searching for buyers of the unit in order to keep the affected workers employed. In May 2007 the media reported negotiations of companies planning to establish themselves in the Bay area of Cadiz. The main companies mentioned are: (1) Gonzalez Byass which would set up a biodiesel plant; (2) Ficosa which could absorb 500 of Delphi’s employers with a car components plant; (3) Sadiel and its software project which could absorb between 150 and 400 of Delphi’s former employees; (4) Genesis which is planning to manufacture solar panels and employ 108 workers; and a steel company which could absorb up to 700 employees. All in all, if these plans are confirmed almost all of the 1,600 Delphi’s employees would be redeployed. On 23 July 2008, EU allocated €10.5 million to retrain Spain's Delphi workers. The money will come from a special European Union fund set up to help the victims of globalization and will pay for programs to get dismissed workers back into the labor market as quickly as possible.
The Spanish authorities made an unsuccessful application for aid from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).
Eurofound (2006), Delphi, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 63397, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/63397.