Search

This paper analyses the impact of the adoption of 4.0 technologies and of the Italian Government Plan on the Italian industrial structure and on work organisation and workers' conditions. The Italian industrial structure is strongly unbalanced at a territorial level, because it is concentrated in the Northern country, while the South of the country is at a great disadvantage: the industrial and employment divide is therefore very evident. The adoption of 4.0 technologies and the Italian government's plan risk further aggravating this imbalance. Northern Italian industry, however, is also a cause for concern, as it is increasingly dependent on the supply chains of German, and to some extent French, industry. The consequences of the implementation of Industry 4.0 at the factory level on working conditions are negative for workers as it leads to an increase in work rhythms, an increase in workloads, a greater control over work performance and less autonomy for workers. In general, in fact, our research has shown a strong intertwining between 4.0 technologies and the organisational model of Lean Production, an intertwining aimed at increasing the exploitation of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Francesco Garibaldo In the last three years, FIAT AUTO recovered from a quasi-desperate financial situation and had started a new managerial pattern affording through an overall plan for business reorganisation ranging from the products to the productive process. The intervention in the productive process and thus, the organisational model, has had direct repercussions on the working conditions, which is the aspect this paper will be dealing with, referring exclusively to the Mirafiori plant in Turin. The paper will comment on the outcomes of a very recent survey organised by one of the members of the Metalworkers Union and will stress the very transitional sate of the workers' conditions up until now.

Capitalism is still in a systemic crisis that started in the Summer of 2007. Financial instability arose from the difficulties inherent in a particular segment of US financial markets, then spread to the rest of the world. The financial crisis mutated into a banking crisis and, in less than a year, it became a full blown crisis of the real economy. Now, the crisis of private debt has turned into a public debt crisis, and the global crisis has heavily affected Europe. The recession is likely to be a prolonged one even if one accepts that the feeble recovery, if there is a recovery at all, will not end in another depression. The trigger of a double dip may be European contradictions. Capitalism could therefore face again, in the medium term, a prolonged period of stagnation with mass unemployment. In this paper, we will first give a brief outlook of the global and European crisis. Then we will focus on Europe. We will inquire in particular into the contradictions of European neo-mercantilism, considering some 'microeconomic' but crucial dimensions of the nature of competition and industrial restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]