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 company Agalsa, specialised in galvanising metals, has requested to enter into a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding, due to its lack of capacity to re-structure its debt. The proceeding resulted in the announcement to the workforce that the company will dismiss all the 150 workers currently employed. Agalsa justified the current situation as the result of a financing problem.
According to the trade unions, the closure of Agalsa is the result of wrong management decisions. They also stress that workers have suffered delays in the payment of their wages during the last year. Lawyers representing the company argue that the company only owes two monthly wages to the workers.
Eurofound (2017), Agalsa, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 90268, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/90268.