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.
Following the acquisition of vegetable producer Padley Vegetables by Pinguin Foods in June 2007, it has been announced by Pinguin Foods that 120 employees are to be made redundant at the former Padley Vegetables site in Boston, Lincolnshire. A spokesman from Pinguin Foods stated that there were too many employees at the site to do the work, and that the 190 employees at the site would have to fall to 70 in order to secure the site’s future. It was added that the company hoped that staff would volunteer to leave and compulsory redundancies could be avoided, and also that the firm has already received 50 applications for voluntary redundancy. The GMB union expressed its anger at the move and feared the site would not be viable with just 70 staff left.
Andy Fletcher from the GMB stated: 'Three weeks ago they gave me an assurance that they had no plans for redundancies. Three weeks later they announce 120 redundancies. I'm after urgent meetings with the directors to find out what their intentions are.'
Eurofound (2007), Pinguin Foods, Merger/Acquisition in United Kingdom, factsheet number 65669, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65669.