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.
On 17 January 2012, the sofa manufacturer Green Sofa Dunkerque ceased production and its 115 employees will receive their dismissal notice on 24 January.
The company was placed in receivership in March 2012 with a six-month period to find an investor to take it over. A new buyer was not found and the Commercial Court decided on its liquidation in November 2012. Green Sofa worked only for the Swedish group Ikea, but in September 2010, claiming faulty items and low quality, Ikea announced to Green Sofa its decision to stop their collaboration at the end of 2012.
The group Parisot, owner of Green Sofa, has transferred the production to Romania. The employees’ representatives have launched legal action against the group in order to obtain higher dismissal compensation.
Eurofound (2013), Green Sofa Dunkerque, Bankruptcy in France, factsheet number 74810, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/74810.