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.
As announced on 25 July 2014, train car constructor Bombardier is to cut 125 jobs in Bautzen by 2016. Currently, around 1,200 people work at this site including temporary staff. The company intends to shut down the whole tram construction department. Works council and management named several reasons for the reduction, such as low capacity utilisation and a highly competitive market.
Bombardier is a Canadian company which employs 70,000 people worldwide. There are ten sites in Germany with a total number of around 8,700 employees. In 2012 the company announced the closure of its site in Aachen affecting 200 temporary agency workers and 400 permanent staffÂ
Eurofound (2014), Bombardier, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 77376, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77376.