ILPC 2027

During the last decades we have witnessed an outflow of the Fordist production to South-East Asia. We can make out a case for an argument that so far the Nordic countries have managed to safeguard a post-Fordist mode of production in their region. However, the Nordic end of the manufacturing value chain has not remained untouched by the increasing international competition. It is argued that the 1990s saw an intensification of pressure in firms to prioritise cost cutting and the downsizing of their activities, which can be termed a 'rationalisation ideology'. Such an ideology has superseded that of 'humanisation' that characterised the 1980s and 'democratisation' that characterised the 1970s. We have witnessed the development of the Nordic mode of labour process, which culminated in industrial democracy in Swedish car manufactories, but which has retreated and given way to Japanese intensified production models. Responsible autonomy is particularly interesting subject of research from the Nordic perspective: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are famous for their high levels of job autonomy and work intensity, although recently there has been some movement downwards towards the European average in these indicators.

To study the position of Nordic workers in the process of restructuring of global manufacturing chains, we have taken five engineering shops from Finland under scrutiny. The chosen firms are of different sizes, and they are either individual enterprises or subsidiaries of multinational companies. Given the nature of the type of production, workers are expected to be in a position where they should be treated as ‘core’ employees, indispensable for the firms. In other words, they should fit well in the Nordic ideal of responsible and autonomous worker. But on the other hand, pressures from the product and labour market concern them as well especially in the face of recession and relocation of production from the West to the East. Because of the scarcity of skilled labour, the employer has temptations to increase effort levels, which may result in ‘high-strain’ workplace practices.

The labour process at the Finnish engineering works is still characterized by high discretion of workers over their work tasks and pace of work, although some signs of work intensification are in sight. Moreover, we see some variety of autonomy within the case study. Production is taking a more ‘lean’ form at the larger factories due to the emphasis on scale rather than the scope of production. The trend seems to be towards a more bureaucratic and lean form of organization. Also, the employers seem to cultivate individual autonomy instead of collective autonomy, where teamwork is not favoured. The introduction of the ‘continuous improvement’ initiative is associated with work intensification at some factories. The findings suggest that the Nordic (Volvoist) model characterized by semi-autonomous work groups is giving way to the Toyotist production concepts. Also, an idea of a new post-bureaucratic age in Nordic manufacturing industry may be too optimistic.