ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of the development of the Norwegian shipbuilding industry after 1945, and to discuss the changing conditions of the labour force and labour relations in the industry, both nationwide and internally in the workplaces. We posit three main questions: what industrial relations were established in the shipbuilding industry, what social relations in the workplace did they correspond to, and how did they develop during the differing phases of the post-war epoch? Such an overview must inevitably involve a construction at the analytical level of the relations between the different contexts determining the path of development of the industry. Our point of departure is that, to understand the conditions of the labour force and the character of workers’ organisations, we must on the one hand understand how the economic potential of shipbuilding firms is dependent on the connections between national and global markets; national and international governmental regulations; national and transnational ownership; and company structures. On the other hand, we must also consider the production system in the industry – technology, division of labour, and work organisation – to understand industrial relations, both at the national level and in shipyards and company groups. The extant system of industrial relations, involving trade unions, employers’ federations, and government, in its turn, has a decisive effect on production.
