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.
Tarkett, a global leader in innovative and sustainable solutions for flooring and sports surface which has 11,000 employees world-wide, has announced to its Central works council, the closure of its plant in Cuzorn (Lot-et-Garonne). The management failed to find a company to take over this plant that produces wood parquet floor and employs 123 workers. The plant will close by the end of December and dismissal letters will be sent in February 2015.
The group Tarkett has bought the plant in 2011 after the bankruptcy of Parquets Marty with the aim to develop the production for the south Europe market. However with the building construction crisis and the sharp competition from Asian manufacturers, the production decreased about 20pc between 2010 and 2013.
UPDATE 03-07-2015: On 2 June 2015, Tarkett Bois saw the cancellation of its redundancy plan confirmed, due to the non-observance of the Florange law. The labour inspectorate criticised management for the way they conducted the plan. According to the labour inspectorate the Works' council were not afforded enough time to comment on the report regarding actions taken to find a buyer, potential take-over offers and the eventual motives for refusal. The plant has been closed since 31 December 2014
Eurofound (2014), Tarkett Bois, Closure in France, factsheet number 77603, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77603.