Labouring to Learn : Union Renewal in Swedish Manufacturing

Abstract: As a response to post-Fordist production conditions, Swedish manufacturing unions have sought to develop their respective agendas beyond the traditional focus on distribution issues. A new emphasis on competence at the workplace suggests an increasing need for unions to develop a capacity to learn as organisations. The thesis accordingly sets out to further our theoretical knowledge of change in the unions and encourage critical reflection amongst practitioners by means of a comparative study of learning in the two main Swedish manufacturing unions, Metall and SIF.