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.
The vegetable processing company Bonduelle has announced the closure of the plant in Westmerbeek with the loss of 130 jobs. The job cuts are blamed on decreasing sales of tinned food and overcapacity of green vegetables.
The management explained that the production capacity will have to be adapted to the demand on the European market. According to the trade unions, the closure of the plant was somhow expected and indicated that the company missed a number of investment opportunities in the past that would have made the plant more viable.
Eurofound (2011), Bonduelle, Closure in Belgium, factsheet number 71594, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/71594.