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.
Branded Apparel Italia is the Italian division of Dim Branded Apparel, a multinational group that designs, manufactures and markets intimate apparel with brands such as Dim, Playtex, Wonderbra and Lovable. The group holds key market positions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and throughout Eastern Europe. Dim has 14,000 employees in all the world (of which 6,500 in Europe) and operates six wholly-owned, twelve leased manufacturing facilities and fourteen distribution centres in Western Europe. Since 2005, Dim Branded Apparel is owned by Sun Capital Partners, that is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in market-leading companies. On 12 May 2006, Dim Branded Apparel announced to the European Works Council a reorganisation plan that envisages the loss of 980 jobs in all Europe. In particular, the plan includes 450 redundancies in France, 330 in Spain, 40 in Germany, 20 in the United Kingdom and 140 in Italy. In Italy, Dim employs 800 workers: 520 of them work in the Lovable plant located in Grassobbio, in the province of Bergamo, and 280 work in the Playtex plant located in Pomezia, in the province of Rome. The Italian trade unions are waiting for the company to disclose the distribution between the two Italian plants of the 140 redundancies envisaged by the reorganisation plan. The trade unions have declared that, once they know the details of the plan, they will elaborate adequate initiatives for reacting to the companys decision.
Eurofound (2006), Branded Apparel Italia, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 63639, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/63639.