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.
Iberia is planning to apply for a new collective dismissal affecting 1,581 workers. The group IAG has informed the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), the agency in charge of supervising and inspecting the Spanish Stock Markets and the activities of all the participants in those markets, that is going to open a consultation process to negotiate the dismissals. Workers affected will be pilots, crew members and ground staff. In 2012 ERM reported a labour force adjustment plan implemented by the company that affected 3,140 employees.
Updated, 16-07-2014: New details have been announced on the labour force adjustment that Iberia will implement. The plan proposed to the unions affects 1,183 ground staff, 154 crew members and 244 pilots. Moreover, the company will foster voluntary leaves.
Updated, 04-11-2014: Voluntary redundancies are about to start. Finally, the number of workers affected will be 1,427. The measure will affect 244 pilots and 1,183 ground staff. The voluntary redundancies will include early retirements and relocations.
Update 22-12-2015
Spain's Supreme Court has cancelled the ruling made by the High Court, that limited the implementation of the collective dismissal at Iberia to ending on 31 December 2015. The Supreme Court has now extended its validity for two more years. The original intention of the company was to implement the plan between 2014 and 2017 by means of voluntary leaves. However, the High Court restricted its application from 2014 to 2015, following the appeal brought by the company trade unions. With this new sentence, the company can now open the plan to dismiss new 527 workers that will complete the number of 1,427 redundancies that the company aimed to dismiss. Workers affected will be ground staff because the pilots have already covered their quota while cabin crew staff were not taking part in the plan.
Eurofound (2014), Iberia, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 77307, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77307.