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.
Wrightbus, a Ballymena based bus manufacturer, has filed for insolvency and announced 1,200 job cuts. Around 50 workers will be kept on in the interim. The company, which was founded in 1946, manufactures Routemaster buses for the UK market, however, their market has been getting smaller in the recent years as a result of growing competition with manufacturers of electric vehicles. Due to financial pressures, Wrightbus had been seeking either new investment or a new owner, though it was ultimately not able to secure any additional funding. The Unions have called for the UK government to intervene. The timeframe for the redundancies has not been announced.
Eurofound (2019), Wrightbus, Bankruptcy in United Kingdom, factsheet number 98950, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98950.