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 stainless steel manufacturer Aperam, a spin-off of ArcelorMittal, has announced a restructuring of its plant at Geugnon (Saône-et-Loire) with 100 to 130 job cuts. The plant faces sharp competition due to the increase of imports of Chineese products. The management want to invest and to modernise some production lines to increase the competitiveness of the site. At the same time it will freeze the oldest and non-competitive lines. According the union CFE-CGC, without this reorganisation, even it refuses job cuts, the site will close in two or three years. Aperam is a global player in stainless steel production with 2.5 mt of flat stainless steel capacity in Europe and Brazil (27% of segment output in 2009). It has 9.500 employees worldwide. The site of Geugnon employed 1439 employees in 2003. The workforce has been reduced mainly by natural departures and retirements since then. In February 2011, Aperam announced the loss of 223 positions at its plant of Isbergues (North of France).
Eurofound (2014), Aperam, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 77216, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77216.