Work and Employment Relations in the Automobile Industry

ELSIE CHARRON is a Sociologist and CNRS Researcher working at the Institut de Recherche sur les Societes Contemporaines in Paris. Her main areas of research include employment and labour markets in both public and private sectors, notably in the transport and automotive industry. She is a member of the International Steering Committee of GERPISA. PAUL STEWART is Professor of the Sociology of Work and Employment at the Centre for Employment Studies Research at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England. His research interests include employment relations and labour proces

• Introduction; P.Stewart & E.Charron Volkswagen's Modular System, Regional Development and Workers' Systems in Resende, Brazil; J.R.Ramalho & M.A.Santana The Contract of Change: Organizational Innovation and the Roles of Workers in the Brazilian Truck Industry; L.P.Bresciani & R.Quadros The Rationalized Factory and Changes in Work Management: The Case of the Fiat Post-Fordist Auto Plant in Brazil; L.A.Cardoso New Production Systems and Workers' Participation - A Contradiction? Some Lessons from German Automobile Companies; L.Pries From Submission to Confrontation: Labour Relations under the New Production Technology at Asan Plant of Hyundai Motors; M.K.Chung The Social Relations of Lean Production in the British Autocomponents Sector: A Case Study of Labour Subordination and Resistance; A.Danford The Role of the Unions and Workplace Change in Motor Manufacturing in Italy: Flanked by Unilateral and Bilateral Employee Relationships; V.Pulignano European Works Councils and International Restructuring: A Perspective for European Collective Bargaining?; U.Ruhfeldt The Restructuring of Work, Employment and Labour Relations in the Mexican Automobile Sector (Volkswagen and Nissan); Y.Montiel Making Renaults for Europe: Workers from Renault's Plants Outside France; E.Charron The 1998 Flint-GM Strike: Bellwether of Continental Integration and Lean Production; S.Babson Patterns of Labour Control and the Erosion of Labour Standards: Towards an International Study of the Quality of Working Life in the Automobile Industry (Canada, Japan and the UK); P.Stewart, W.Lewchuk, C.Yates, M.Saruta & A.Danford