Digitalisation, working conditions and the role of industrial relations: the case of the Motor Valley in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Résumé:

The current technological transformations in the automotive sector are accompanied by deep changes in the spaces, modes and times of production. Technological innovation, however, may be declined in multiple organisational forms and follow different trajectories, depending on context specific factors, which range from the positioning of enterprises and territories in global value chains to the market they engage in or the spillover of earlier technological and organizational settings. Technological and organizational choices have different repercussions on employment, in terms of replacement/displacement, and affect differently the content, organisation, conditions and modalities of work activities, as well as job quality. Institutional, social and economic actors are thus confronted with strategic decisions that contribute to shape technologies adoption at the micro, meso and macro level. Within this framework, scholars are increasingly focusing on the role of industrial relations and the ability of their actors to negotiate the design, integration and implementation of new technologies, influencing their effects on working conditions. Research on this subject still shows significant gaps in terms of analysis and empirical studies. The present research is carried out within the framework of the project PRIN ‘Digitwork’ and aims to contribute to filling this gap. Our preliminary results focus on a specific territory, specialised in a specific market niche of the automotive sector: the Motor Valley in the Emilia region in Italy. In this regional automotive industry, the manufacturing technologies ascribed to the so-called Industry 4.0 are widely present (Butollo et al. 2018; Zirpoli, Cabigiosu 2018); on the other hand, the territory selected has a peculiar tradition of industrial relations. These two elements offer a interesting background to advance in the understanding of how the wider productive and managerial environment interplays with digitalisation and the action of workers representative bodies.
The extant literature has already highlighted how automation and digitisation processes can have different impacts on the organisation of work, depending on the broader socio-economic and institutional context - including industrial relations - in which companies are located (Krzywdzinski, 2021). At the same time, empirical studies so far show that the impact of new technologies on work organisation and quality varies according to a multiplicity of context-specific factors at firm level. (Krzywdzinski, 2022). The methodology based on case studies allows to unveil the micro-level mechanisms that influence both the trajectories of technological change and the conditions of technology deployment, within specific work organisations. In order to include this double level, the contribution is structured in two parts.
The first one focuses on a sectoral analysis of the automotive industry in Emilia-Romagna, aimed at capturing the main trends in the transformation of the production, the employment structure, the labour market and technological trajectories. The automotive industry in Emilia-Romagna has peculiar characteristics, as it is characterized by the presence of OEM manufacturing luxury sport cars, engaging in market and product dynamics that differ remarkably from the rest of the regional automotive manufactures. Due to the lack of existing systematic and exhaustive data survey on this specific segment of the automotive industry, the analysis was conducted through the systematisation of indirect data (reports, institutional databases and resources from organisations and research institutes in the area) and through semi-structured interviews with key-informants (policy-makers, trade union officials, representatives of employers' associations, sector experts, entrepreneurs). The emerging picture is that one of a sector under severe tensions arising from the double transition (digital and ‘green’), but also from diverging market trends and the coexistence of different business models. These tensions have distinct impacts on working conditions, depending on the position along the value chain (OEMs or suppliers, and the different tiers within it). Results show a growing uncertainty and an increasing exposure to deep transformation that may entail the risks of contraction in employment and production. From this highly dynamic and varied framework, moreover, unprecedented social and economic challenges seem to be emerging for institutional players and the industrial relations system.
The second part of the research consists in a multiple case study analysis, of two well-known OEM of the Emilian Motor Valley - Automobili Lamborghini and Ferrari. These two cases are similar in product, size, market and technological investments in their respective production processes, but differ substantially with respect to industrial relations models. In the case of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., industrial relations are hybridised by the German co-determination system, that provides scope for a strong involvement of workers' representatives and extensive recourse to bargaining. In the cases of Ferrari, on the other hand, industrial relations are less oriented to co-determination and negotiation rooms are limited by a strongly proceduralised participation system. The case studies were conducted through a series of semi-structured interviews with workers, technicians, union representatives and managers of the aforementioned companies, accompanied by the collection and analysis of firms and union documents. Where possible, the interviews were accompanied by visits to the production plants. The comparative study of these three cases aims to highlight differences and similarities of the technological implementation processes and the changes associated with them in terms of work organisation (tasks, coordination and control mechanisms, allocation and development of skills, hierarchical structure, etc.) and job quality (wages, contracts, job security, working hours, autonomy, physical and social environment, etc.). At the same time, the research aims to bring out the role that the different industrial relations present play in shaping technological and organisational transformations.