Coordinated interest representation along the automotive value chain as a response to social dumping practices
Market Expansion and Social Dumping in Europe, Routledge, London, (2015)Abstract
This chapter describes social dumping practices related to the fragmentation of the automotive value chain and examines unions’ efforts to minimize the negative effects of outsourcing on employment conditions and workers’ interest representation. Examining the relationships between an automotive company headquartered in Germany and its Italian subsidiaries, and with logistics companies located in both Italy and Germany, it documents the impact of outsourcing on wages, working conditions and industrial relations. The second part of the chapter documents union strategies aimed at reconstructing industrial relations along the value chain and at minimizing the social dumping threats associated with outsourcing. In the setting examined here, such approaches have mainly involved unions’ organizing campaigns and efforts to coordinate employee interest representation beyond firm and sectoral boundaries. These local strategies have been supported by transnational tools, in particular by Transnational Company Agreements (TCAs), whose application has helped improve standards regarding employee rights and working conditions not only in ‘core’ firms but also at the level of subcontractors.