Crafting the Steel: Labour Regime of the Bangladeshi Workers at Italian Fincantieri Shipyards

The research on labour regimes mainly focuses on the labour processes within factories, often neglecting their link with social reproduction and migration regimes. To bridge this gap in the current literature, this dissertation concentrates on the intersection of these three issues. Taking Fincantieri, a leading Italian state-owned shipbuilding industry in Europe, as an example, this dissertation is based on one year of ethnographic research. It includes 79 interviews conducted mainly with Bangladeshi migrant workers (BMWs), union and community leaders, as well as observations and reflections from fieldwork in two port cities: Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy. The labour regime at Fincantieri exhibits the following three characteristics. First, the labour process is organised through informal intermediaries and subcontracting firms, where social networks are vital in getting a job at Fincantieri shipyards. We reveal three distinct working conditions for the native, EU and third-country nationals. Therefore, such division produces a tangible, contractual, legal, and social distinction among the Fincantieri main workers, contracting and subcontracting firms. While subcontracting increases flexibility and results in less control over working conditions by Fincantieri. These conditions include informal and temporary contracts, lower wages, and limited opportunities for collective bargaining, and these dynamics shape the (im)mobility power of the BMWs. Additionally, we highlight BMWs perception of unions and their willingness to connect with trade unions. Second, migration regimes and labour rules apply through visa regimes and the labour market's regulations. Workers experience differential working conditions based on their migration status; permanent residence holders can look for temporary work, seek unemployment benefits, and look for upward mobility. In contrast, temporary migrants seek permanent jobs to extend their visa status. Therefore, these workers remain obliged to the firms’ owners and supervisors. Third, labour control can occur outside the workplace through social reproduction in the community. We highlight the social reproduction of single and married working men living abroad while families are behind and the gendered roles of housewives in Italy. In addition, this study underscores the role of the BMW community, workers' accommodation, their socio-cultural and political associations, and other aspects of BMW's future generations. These aspects shape the social reproduction of the workers who actively contribute to production at Fincantieri. Finally, we argue that all these three elements intersect with multi-scalar influences and actively constitute the labour regime at Fincantieri.