The Swimmers: Labour Turnover Against the Cage of the Collective Agreement

This paper explores turnover as a form of workers’ resistance within the automotive sector in Italy and Poland during a period of major global industry reshuffling. In Italy, this sector has historically been a key arena for working-class struggles, addressing not only sector-specific issues but also broader social concerns. Capital’s response – shifting from vertical integration to lean production with extended supply chains – has contributed to a protracted workers’ leverage erosion. In Poland, neoliberal reforms accelerated this process, severely weakening unions and curtailing negotiation capacity.

Labour turnover is often linked to union weakness and, therefore, with voice (Alberti, Sacchetto 2024). Differences turnover levels between Italy and Poland are often explained by the greater presence and strength of the Italian unions, compared Polish counterparts. However, we argue that industrial relations and collective agreements must also be considered. In Italy, the absence of state-mandated minimum wage is offset by a national collective agreement, renewed every three years, which ensures fair conditions for the core metalworkers, with company-level agreements often improving these terms. Workers can exercise their right to strike for various reasons. Conversely, in Poland the minimum wage is set by the state, collective bargaining occurs sporadically at the company level, and has been called a “near death experience” (Czarzasty, 2019). Furthermore, workplace disputes are subject to protracted mediation processes, delaying and defusing strikes.

Based on qualitative research conducted in Italy and Poland between October 2023 and October 2024, we argue that while in Italy strikes can be practised more frequently and for different reasons allowing disputes to immediately erupt, in the Polish case the lengthy dispute resolutions, together with trade union weakness result in a high turnover rate. We theorise turnover as form workers’ resistance against the difficulties to change working condition in the short term.