Skilled maintenance workers under lean production

: a car industry case study.

Abstract

In recent decades, lean production has been an enduring feature of the automotive industry and the subject of extensive scholarly debate. This thesis adds to such debates by exploring a novel area of discussion largely ignored in the literature: skilled maintenance workers, engineering craft apprentices and their unions. It does so by considering the trajectory of these groups and how they evolved over the lean era. The thesis draws upon a single case study of a UK car plant to assess the trajectory of skilled maintenance across time. It combines shop-floor interviews with skilled workers, engineering apprentices, union representatives and operational managers with supporting archival documents from the plant and union archives. Overall, the research finds a largely negative trajectory for skilled workers and apprentices following the introduction and embedding of lean practices. Furthermore, in the same period that lean degraded their work experience, skilled workers' union voice waned following the absorption of craft specific unions into the general union of Unite. The results of the findings are related to the future of skilled work in the UK auto industry and the role of occupational specific union representation.

Thesis embargoed until 31st December 2024

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Niall Cullinane (Supervisor) & Paul Teague (Supervisor)