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.

Bridgestone, a Japanese tyre manufacturer, has announced an employment redundancy file (ERE) procedure affecting 546 employees at its plants in Basauri (Bizkaia) and Puente San Miguel (Cantabria). Specifically, the ERE targets 335 employees in Basauri and 211 in Puente San Miguel, which represents approximately 44% of the combined workforce at both sites.
Bridgestone attributes this decision to the company's broader efforts to adjust its production structure in response to the significant contraction in the agricultural and commercial vehicle tyre segments, coupled with inflation, regulatory changes, market uncertainty and increased competition from low-cost Chinese tyre manufacturers. The company stresses that negotiations will be conducted transparently and respectfully, in alignment with its values of integrity and social responsibility. Meanwhile, trade unions have strongly rejected the measure.
In 2012, Bridgestone already announced an ERE in Spain for 442 employees Bridgestone 2012-ES
Eurofound (2025), Bridgestone Hispania, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 202553, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/202553.