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.
Manufacturer of diesel and gas engines for marine and power generation applications, Bergen Engines, which is owned by Rolls-Royce, is to dismiss up to 200 employees at its factory at Hordvik near Bergen.
135 out of a workforce of 900 employees will be dismissed. Most of them (87) are production workers and 48 are administrative staff. The dismissals process will start immediately. In addition, 70 temporary employees at the factory have been recently made redundant. Local union leader in Fellesforbundet, Odd Johnsen, said that the union accepts that there is no way around dismissals, but he added that employees are distressed by the news.
The restructuring at Bergen Engines is due to the fall in oil price and investments in the North Sea. The developments in the market will determine if there is a need for further restructuring.
In the fall of 2014, Rolls-Royce decided to move its production of guidance systems at Os to Sunnmøre, affecting 85 employees. However, the development at Bergen Engines is not connected to this decision.
Bergen Engines is part of Rolls-Royce and from 1. July 2013 a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG. Rolls-Royce employs 55,000 globally and around 3,200 in Norway. The restructuring in Rolls-Royce Marine does not affect Bergen Engines.
Eurofound (2015), Bergen Engines, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 79254, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/79254.