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.
Atlas Aluminium, a firm that manufactures aluminium products, has announced it is to close its site in Limerick with the loss of 163 jobs. The Limerick site produces car parts for the assembly lines of the car manufacturers Nissan and Renault, and the plant will be closed by the end of 2007. Two weeks prior to the announcement of the closure on 12th November 2007, employees at the plant had staged a strike. The workers claimed that they were owed a total of 250,000 EUR in back pay and also alleged that foreign workers at the plant, many of whom came from Poland, were being treated unfairly.
Management at the firm have repeatedly denied these accusations. In a statement, the firm has said that it has been unable to pay the most recent Irish national wage agreement, and that an independent assessor appointed by the Labour Court upheld this. In a statement, the company, which has operated in Limerick since 1980, said that it regretted having to close and attributed the closure to the loss of contracts with key customers.
Eurofound (2007), Atlas Aluminium, Closure in Ireland, factsheet number 66008, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66008.