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 Norwegian manufacturing company of stoves Jøtul is to cut 100 jobs at Kråkerøy in Østfold, Norway. The manufacturing departments for mounting, processing and enameling will be affected. The jobs will be relocated to Poland due to a longer period of economic difficulties, where a new fabric will open in 2020.
The management informs that the company will start negotiations with the trade union and affected employees shortly. The shop steward responded that the announcement came as a surprise, and that the trade union will set up meetings with the employees in the coming weeks to see how the trade union can assist their members.
Jøtul was established in 1920, but the company has been struggling economically since 2010. In early 2018, Jøtul was sold from the Swedish company Ratos to the American company OpenGate Capital. The company has 540 employees worldwide, and about 280 of these work in Norway at the fabric at Kråkerøy. In addition, the company has seven subsidiaries in the US, France, the UK, Spain, Poland, Denmark and Italy. The offshoring to Poland will also affect 70 jobs in Vissenbjerg, Denmark.
Eurofound (2018), Jøtul, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Norway, factsheet number 95741, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/95741.