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.
Finnish electronics manufacturer Elcoteq declared bankruptcy last week and is to close its plant in Pécs (Hungary). The company has notified the local labour office and unions of the dismissal of 1,515 workers. Unions started demonstrations and protests against this decision on 12 October 2011.
Established in Hungary in 1998, Elcoteq employed 7,000 people before the crisis started. As reported in an earlier fact sheet (n.18128), the company was forced to dismiss 680 employees in 2010. In the meantime the workforce decreased to 2,700 employees. It used to operate three plants but until recently only the plant in Pécs was spared to waves of restructuring.
Elcoteq invested HUF 13.5 billion in Hungary between 2003 and 2008. The company was a leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company in the communications technology field, producing mobile phones and their parts, set top boxes, electronics for flat screen TVs and tower-top amplifiers among other related products.
Eurofound (2011), Elcoteq, Bankruptcy in Hungary, factsheet number 72563, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/72563.