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.
E-commerce leader Amazon announced 1,600 hirings in Torrazza Piemonte (Turin) and Casirate (Bergamo).
The company is to build a logistics hub in Torrazza Piemonte and a smaller freight centre in Casirate, creating 1,200 and 400 jobs respectively.
The new centres, which are expected to be operational by the autumn, add up to the three Amazon sites located in northen and central Italy (see also AmazonIT-2017).
Hirings will take place over the next three years and the new hires will be offered permanent positions. The job creation will primarily concern blue-collar workers, albeit clerks and managers will be recruited as well. The company also plans to recruit temporary agency workers during the peak periods.
Unions welcomed the announcement. Yet, they urged the company to negotiate employment conditions for example pay and the use of temporary agency work contracts.
Eurofound (2018), Amazon, Business expansion in Italy, factsheet number 92943, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92943.