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.
Compobaie, which puts together windows with concrete framing, is to let go of 135 of its 300 employees at sites across France, as part of a recovery plan to bring the company back to profitability. The company has been in difficulty since November 2008, when it filed for bankruptcy and the job losses were announced through the bankruptcy court. Platina Participations, an investment company based in Luxembourg, will oversee the restructuring contained in the recovery plan.
The redundancies will affect various different sites throughout France. 50 will come from sites at Réalmont and Marssac sur Tarn, where the head office of Compobaie is located. Production units at Revel (Haute-Garonne), Peronne (Somme) et Bourg-Saint-Andéol (Ardèche) will close, and production will be centred at sites in the south-west, in the Midi-Pyrenees, Languedoc-Roussillon and Aquitaine.
The company had experienced strong growth from 2000-2005, at which point it employed 400, but has been negatively affected by the decline in demand affecting the construction sector.
Eurofound (2009), Compobaie, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 68560, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/68560.