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 manufacturing company Ercros will apply for an employment adjustment plan affecting 105 workers. The measure will be focused in the plants located in Flix (43 workers), Vila-seca (23 workers) and Cardona (34 workers). The plant located in Cardona will be closed as a result of the measure. The company said that the restructuring is due to the introduction of a legal requirement to stop making chlorine using mercury and to shift to other production procedures.
During the negotiations process, the trade unions have been able to reduce the number of dismissals initially proposed by the company from 132 to 105. Moreover, the company will make an individual proposal to each worker for a relocation. In case a worker accept the proposal, he/she will receive a severance payment equal to 33 days per year worked up to a maximum of two years. In case the proposal is rejected, the worker will receive a severance payment equal to 20 days per year worked up to a maximum of 12 months, an a complement which will vary in relation to the distance of the current job and the rejected job.
Eurofound (2017), Ercros, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 92719, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92719.