LABOR FLEXIBILITY IN THE CLOTHING AND TEX TILES SECTOR OF NORTHERN GREECE

This paper is based on a case study concerning labour flexibility in t he textiles and clothing industry located in the Greater Thessaloniki area of Northern Greece. The paper employs case studies in order to de velop a clear view of the characteristics of a particular industrial d istrict and so as to avoid facile generalizations. The first section p resents and analyses the concepts of ''numerical'' and ''functional'' flexibility in the context of the ''flexible firm'' paradigm, with spe cial attention to peripheral employment. The holistic approaches of Pi ore and Sabel (flexible specialization), Sayer and Dore (flexible ford ism) and Martinelli and Schoenberger (flexible accumulation) are also presented, laying the groundwork for the empirical case study outlined in the second part of the paper. In the second section, the nature an d character of industrial and labour flexibility, in the industrial di strict of Thessaloniki is closely investigated. The field work was con centrated on the textiles and clothing industry because it constitutes the greater majority of industrial activity in Northern Greece and al so clearly represents the area's competitive success in international markets. These two sectors were also chosen because they are seen as t he leaders in Greek industry's adaptation to the European Union market and more importantly, they highly employ flexible labour. The researc h involved the distribution of questionnaires and their subsequent sta tistical analysis. For the purposes of the analysis, the figures produ ced correspond to four constructed groups: (1) market-competition, (2) network, (3) internal employment and (4) external employment. The res ults show that dynamism of the industrial district under study should mainly be attributed to defensive flexibility and especially to the em ployment of a low-paid and low-skilled peripheral labour force. Homewo rking, subcontracting, and generally the externalization of production are found to be key features of industrial activity of the region. Th e results of the empirical study are reinforced by statistical data pr ovided by international organizations such as the OECD and the Europea n Union. Because of the predominance of defensive flexibility, the pic ture of the Thessaloniki industrial district more closely resembles th e view supported in the first section of the paper by the so-called '' pessimistic'' authors (Martinelli, Schoenberger, Sayer, Dore). New dev elopments seem, in the case presented in this paper, to favour the dow n-grading of labour, not only in terms of wage levels, but also condit ions and terms of employment. Under these conditions, the future outlo ok for the textiles and clothing industry in Northern Greece seems ver y fragile and uncertain.