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.
Electrolux, a multi-national group that produces domestic appliances, is to close its plant located in Scandicci, in the province of Florence, with the consequent loss of 450 jobs. The Electrolux site in Scandicci produces refrigerators, and employs 450 workers. At the beginning of April 2008, the Electrolux announced a reorganisation plan that, in Italy, should affect the plants located in Susegana and in Scandicci. The company should announce the final version of the plan by the end of April. With regard to the Electrolux site in Scandicci, the plan should envisage the closure of the plant, with the consequent concentration of the refrigerators’ production in the Electrolux site located in Susegana. The trade unions reacted to the company’s decision organising a one-day strike at national level and involving in the dispute local and national organisations and institutions, in order to find ways to avoid the decision taken by the company. On 11 September 2008, Electrolux, Energia Futura and the trade unions reached an agreement on the re-industrialisation of the industrial site located in Scandicci. The Energia Futura – a manufacturer of devices that collect energy from alternative energy sources - will take over the Scandicci Electrolux plant and will recruit 370 (out of 450) workers previously employed by Electrolux. The agreement provides that the workers will keep the same economic and working conditions. For the 70 workers who won’t be outplaced in the Energia Futura plant, the agreement envisages the recourse to the “extraordinary” Wages Guarantee Fund and to economic incentives for voluntary dismissals. The Energia Futura plant will build solar panels. Electrolux employs around 9,000 in Italy and has several plants in the country. The group is the world’s largest producer of domestic appliances and in Italy acquired Zanussi and Rex, two traditional Italian household manufacturers.
For more information, see EIRO report.
Eurofound (2008), Electrolux-Zanussi, Closure in Italy, factsheet number 66488, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66488.