Abstract
This paper focuses on labour market segmentation between the Nordic and Baltic parts of the production process. The Baltic segment of the Nordic clothing firms' value chain is examined through an analysis of employee relations, work design and control over the labour process. Although the Nordic mode of the labour process is not analysed in this study, it is regarded as mirroring the general features of the ‘Nordic regime’ with high wages, decent working conditions and a relatively high degree of worker autonomy and control over the labour process. The study draws on interview data gained from three small or medium-sized garment factories, located in post-Soviet Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). The headquarters of these three subsidiary firms are located in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The findings imply that the labour process in the Baltic garment industry has been easily ‘locked in’ to a downgraded position — both relatively, compared to that of Nordic countries, and absolutely, in real terms. This suggests that Nordic manufacturers opt for a ‘low road’ to investment and labour management in the Baltic subsidiaries even whilst following a ‘high road’ path at home.
Highlights
This paper focuses on labour market segmentation between the Nordic and Baltic parts of the production process
It is to be noted that the pervasive model for the organisation of production in the Soviet Union was Taylorism-Fordism, and it is realistic to assume that the Fordist model of production did not vanish in the process of transition
In the Finnish apparel industry, economies of scope are achieved through customer-centred product marketing based on the just-in time (JIT) system, urgent deliveries, batch production and research and development (R&D) that are based in the home country, where workers are trained, jobs are enriched and workers’ autonomy increased (Piispa, 1998:88)
Summary
This research concerns the labour process in post-Soviet Baltic States. Traditionally, the labour process in clothing manufacturing has been Taylorist, essentially drawing upon direct control, clear separation of conception from execution, and numerical flexibility. Manufacturing companies have two ideal types of strategy, or ‘roads’ with regard to investment and labour management The first of these has been termed the ‘high road’. Provided that the labour process in the Nordic countries is organised around the ideals of ‘responsible autonomy’ of workers, it could be conjectured that small-batch production in the Baltic States might be accompanied by a production policy based on the post-Fordist idea of ‘flexible specialisation’, the way it happened in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy (Piore & Sabel, 1984). In the process of societal change from Fordism to flexible accumulation in the developed economies, it was individual workers who were vulnerable in the past; the collective worker is vulnerable Such a political economy of production makes it possible for capital to relocate on the basis of the relative profitability of one capitalist vis-a-vis another (Burawoy, 1985:150). The conclusion sums up these findings and discusses some implications for the future of the Baltic and Nordic regimes
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