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 Commercial court of Dax has decided the liquidation of the veneer sheets and wood-based panels manufacturer Darbo in Linxe (Landes). The 130 employees will be dismissed. The plant that belonged to Portuguese group Sonae, has been taken over in 2015 by an investment fund, Gramax Capital. The fund took the commitment to avoid the placement of the company in receivership until 2017 and to maintain the employment level. But the plant continued to make face to losses and the owner refused to reinvest more in the company. The owner received no support from the bank and couldn’t find a new take over to sell the plant. The company faces a sharp competition in the sector against Eastern Europe companies that have lower production costs. The local authorities (The region of Aquitaine) will try to find out what the company did with the EUR 250,000 of subsidy received in 2015.
Eurofound (2016), Darbo, Bankruptcy in France, factsheet number 88953, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88953.