Human-Centered Automation: Codetermining New Technology in an Innovative Mining Company

Abstract

Underground mining is transforming rapidly, driven by pressures to increase safety and productivity. New mining technologies and methods move the industry to higher levels of automation, enabled by and leading to organizational change. Swedish mining companies are at the forefront of these developments. Here, we present findings from a qualitative case study on how novel mining technologies and algorithmic systems are codetermined and regulated by unions and management at the Swedish mining and minerals company Boliden AB. The company has a strong local union presence and cooperative union-management relationships. We interview employer and employee representatives, study local codetermination protocols and other relevant documents, as well as legislated and collectively bargained regulations set outside the firm. Our analysis attempts to answer how and why the implementation of key technologies are codetermined and regulated. Our findings highlight union concerns about surveillance software, union and management concerns about occupation-specific tasks being reshuffled or automated, mutual (employer-union) agreement on safety and productivity priorities, and challenges relating to skill shortages and training. Collective bargaining on these and other issues rests on the five-tier governance and regulatory structure of the Swedish industrial relations system, which provides unions with holdup capacity and enforcement capabilities. Hence, the employer is incentivized to share information and deliberate with unions about technological implementation. Our empirical and theoretical contributions provide insights on how future of work challenges can be solved at the local level through negotiation, and highlight the multi-tiered institutional framework that allocates holdup power, and thus voice, to local parties.