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.
Lear Corporation, an American owned firm that produces parts and accessories for motor vehicles, has announced that it is to close its Bilborough site with the loss of 400 jobs. Management at the firm stated that the financial position of the site was no longer viable and that it was likely to shut before the end of 2008. The Bilborough site has been open since 1997. Nottingham North MP Graham Allen is to meet managers of the firm to discuss the proposed redundancies. Mr Allen stated:
'We really want to try and save the core business and for those jobs that can't be saved we need a really intensive package of retraining and re-skilling. People here must be given the best chance to get jobs after the closure of the factory.'
Lear Corporation operates two other sites in the UK that are based in Coventry and Sunderland.
Eurofound (2007), Lear Corporation, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 65782, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65782.