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.
Vodafone Italia, one of the main telecommunications providers operating in Italy, is to transfer 914 employees to Comdata, a transaction processing services provider. Vodafone Italia announced the business branch transfer in September 2007.
The two companies and the main sectoral trade unions reached an agreement which defines the conditions of the transfer with particular regard to protections and guarantees for the workers involved. Among the guarantees, the agreement envisages that Vodafone Italia and Comdata undertake to guarantee full employment stability during the seven years of the deal, except in the case of voluntary resignations and dismissals for just cause. An employee referendum in November 2007 approved the agreement. The turnout at the referendum amounted to 707 out of the 914 workers entitled to vote. Among the voters, 406 workers cast votes in favour of the agreement, and 291 against it, while 10 ballot papers were blank and/or spoiled.
Vodafone Italia belongs to Vodafone Group, the world’s leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States. Vodafone Group has approximately 72,000 employees worldwide. In Italy, Vodafone Italia has around 6,700 employees.
Information on the agreement on transfer of Vodafone employees to Comdatais available on the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO)
Eurofound (2007), Vodafone Italia, Outsourcing in Italy, factsheet number 66996, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66996.