Challenges for Labour in the Contested Automotive Transition
New technologies displace and make obsolete incumbent innovation competencies, as they have a direct impact on the configuration of a business ecosystem (Adner, 2017) as it has happened in different industries (e.g., Tripsas e Gavetti, 2000). The introduction of new powertrain technologies and the broader digitalization of the automotive industry suggests that carmakers and suppliers need to develop new workers’ competencies and skills for some labour processes. The ongoing transition in the automotive industry is expected to have an impact in terms of shrinking labour force for some tasks while, at the same time, to attract new professional profiles with expertise in digitalized labour processes (ILO 2020).
As part of an Italian national project studying the job-skills development and firm innovation competencies in the automotive sector in Italy and Poland, we focus on the Italian case, where the technological transition seems particularly difficult, due to the workforce’s high average age and a limited generational turnover, as it is the case for the main automotive producer (Fca-Cnh) and its suppliers. Specifically we present some results on the impacts of the technological transition on work organization and working conditions, and on the re-arrangement of professional skills and re-training, based on some case studies of supplier firms in Italy. Moreover, we focus on the role of public policies and industrial relations in ensuring social sustainability (quantity and quality of employment), and of institutional actors in the field of vocational training and labour market intermediation in supporting firms in their needs of new skills.