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 German automotive supplier Bosch has announced the launch of a voluntary departures plan to cut 515 jobs by 2025 in its plant at Onet-le-Château (Aveyron). The plant's workforce will decrease to 824. The site's difficulties are linked to the drop in diesel sales in this company, which manufactures injectors for diesel engines.
The trade union SUD stresses that if no agreement had been signed, '700 to 800 jobs would have been cut right now.' For its part, the trade union CGT does another calculation and talks about nearly 700 fewer jobs; 515 related to over-staffing and around 200 related to the age pyramid and natural departures in the company. This initial plan does not take into account the possible diversification of the site, which is still being studied by the industrial working group.
Two reorganisations have been recorded in the same area in the past: in 2013, Bosch announced a restructuring plan with 117 redundancies out of a total 1,542 employed. Nearby, Bosch Rodez cut 700 positions in 2009.
Update 5/03/2021: An agreement has been reached and Bosch has announced a reorganisation with 750 job cuts out of a total of 1,350, between now and 2025.
Eurofound (2019), Robert Bosch France, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 98092, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98092.