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.
Imperial Tobacco has announced that it is to close its Nottingham factory which will result in the loss of 540 jobs. As recently as ten years ago the Nottingham site employed 1,000. The site suffered job losses in 2008.
The closure of the plant at Nottingham means that no cigarette factories will operate in Britain, though there is a plant run by Japan Tobacco International still operational in Northern Ireland.
Trade Union Unite has stated that it will fight the planned closures. It has accused the company of cutting jobs in the UK in preference for cheaper labour in Eastern Europe.
The time frame for the restructuring is not known yet. As announced, the closure is part of a European cost-cutting plan due to overcapacity and reduced turnover.
Eurofound (2014), Imperial Tobacco, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 77114, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77114.