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.
Car manufacturer Vauxhall has announced plans to cut 400 jobs from its site at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. The company has made the decision as it faces falling sales and difficult market conditions. Ellesmere Port manufactures the Astra model and will change its production process to move from two shifts to one in early 2018. A spokesperson for the company stated that the decision had no link to the uncertainty created by Brexit and was instead reflective of changes in patterns of consumption, away from the estates and saloons produced by Vauxhall and towards the Sports Utility Vehicles. Other commentators have suggested that falls in the value of Sterling linked to the Brexit decision have pushed up costs at the plant and may be a factor in this announcement. Unite the union is about to comment the job losses after discussions with shop stewards.
Eurofound (2017), Vauxhall, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 92332, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92332.