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.
Amtrak, a company that operates in the freight distribution sector, has announced that it is to close its site at Aldridge in the West Midlands. Four hundred people are currently employed at the site, and all of these jobs will be lost. The closure is expected to be complete in the next few weeks. The closure has been blamed by the company, which has been trading since 1987, on lower consumer spending and the rising cost of fuel.
Update – on 1 September 2008 Amtrak announced that the closure of the Aldridge depot will lead to a further 70 job losses at branches in Birmingham, Coventry, Shrewsbury and Gloucester.
Eurofound (2008), Amtrak, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 67017, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/67017.