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.
Airline company Monarch has ceased to trade and has cancelled all flights and holidays with immediate effect, leaving many passengers and holiday makers without transport. The decision means that 1,858 staff have been made redundant; 1760 employees of Monarch Airlines as well as 98 employees of Monarch Travel Group. Many of the redundancies will be from the airline's head offices in Luton.
The collapse of the 50 year old airline is the largest ever of its kind in the UK. The company made the decision to stop trading after forecasting losses of over 100 million GBP for 2018. It blamed its position on closure of certain markets in countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia and resultant higher competition for the markets in Spain and Portugal.
The Unite trade union has said it will launch a claim for compensation over the lack of consultation during the redundancy process. BALPA, which represents pilots, will also be starting a compensation claim.
Eurofound (2017), Monarch, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 92360, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92360.