If you can’t beat them, join them? The Swedish trade union movement and lean production

Abstract

This article discusses the rise and changing nature of ‘lean production’ in Sweden and ‘lean’s’ interaction with union strategy and the demands of union members and employers. It begins with a discussion of what has characterised the Swedish work organisation debate over the past 50 years. With this as a base, we discuss significant trends in Swedish industry that provide both pitfalls and possibilities for workers and for Swedish trade union strategy. Our presumption is that such a strategy is not once and for all given, but something that must be brought up to date in relation to the societal context and altered production systems. Finally, we discuss IF Metall’s concept of ‘sustainable work’ that was established at their Congress in 2008. The title of our article, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them?’ is a provocative way to formulate the core of our analysis based on our overall understanding of lean production in Sweden. There are important implications for managers, workers and unions in countries both similar to and different from Sweden.

Workplace innovation and social innovation: an introduction

“…In some cases, Taylorism's negative effects on performance in terms of turnover, absenteeism, poor work quality, and social conflict far outweighed the positives. Employers were therefore willing to set aside Taylorism for forms of work organisation that were more in line with what employees wanted (Berggren, 1992;van Eijnatten, 1992;Gustavsen, 2007;Johansson and Abrahamsson, 2009;Johansson et al, 2013;Kuipers et al, 2004).…”

“…In Sweden, the poster boy plants of the Swedish model, Kalmar and Uddevalla, were shuttered in the mid '90s when lean production was all the rage. While some authors maintain that the two models have converged into a hybrid model in recent years (Dabhilkar and Ahlström, 2013;Pil and Fujimoto, 2007), others believe the lean approach has replaced the Scandinavian approach altogether, even in Swedish and European auto plants (Cooney, 2004;Johansson and Abrahamsson, 2009;Johansson et al, 2013;Jonsson et al, 2004). In the USA, with the exception of Appelbaum and Batt (1994), who make the distinction in their book between lean teams (following the US lean model) and teams following the Scandinavian model (US team model), authors believe work teams adhere to a single model -the high performance work team model associated with the HPWS Benders, (2005), pp.63-64], which is basically inspired by the Japanese model.…”

“…But when it comes to teamwork, it seems that the key to improving working conditions is to support and strengthen democratic work teams so that members work together as a collective actor. Some authors (Johansson and Abrahamsson, 2009;Johansson et al, 2013) are of the opinion that Swedish unions have forgotten all about the collective dimension of work and have stopped demanding teamwork -centrepieces of their industrial democracy agenda of the 1970s and '80s. They believe this has left Swedish unions powerless to fight corporate management practices that individualise work and weaken work groups.…”

The Integration of Lean and Socio-technical Practices in Sweden

“…In STS, an organization or a work unit is a combination of social In 1985, Swedish Metal Workers' Union (Metall-currently "IF Metall"), the labor union under the LO umbrella which had the greatest influence, laid out a strong proposal for the ideal work conditions, workplace, and labor market using the catchphrase "good work" (Johansson et al, 2013). This labor movement maintained a cooperative relationship with the Swedish Employer Association (SAF), which was facing labor shortages and the necessity to improve production quality and productivity.…”

“…Currently, labor unions are also starting to participate in it (Johansson, Abrahamsson, & Johansson, 2013).…”