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 manufacturer of plastic food boxes Tupperware has announced a closure project of its site of Joué-lès-Tours (Indre-et-Loire), which employs 235 people. The company expect to close the site in March 2018. The decision is related to 'a significant industrial overcapacity in its European manufacturing', according to the management. Surplus result from an improvement in productivity and a slowdown in its commercial activities in Central and Western Europe and particularly in France. Therefore, the company 'must optimise its industrial footprint in order to restore competitiveness and ensure growth', according to the company's statement. Tupperware has four manufacturing sites serving the European markets: in Belgium, Greece, Portugal and France. According to the management, Tupperware wants to lead by example by offering a reclassification to each employee and making every effort to find a buyer. The company's surplus of production, in Europe for 2017, is 35% and would be 45% if the French site continued its activities.
Eurofound (2017), Tupperware, Closure in France, factsheet number 92301, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92301.