Innovative Bargaining and Epistemic Leverage in the Digital Transformation: The Case of Lamborghini

The article explores the conditions that made possible the engagement of FIOM Cgil in Automobili Lamborghini, Italy, in a process of innovative bargaining: i.e. a form of collective negotiation through which trade unions succeed in expanding negotiation beyond the boundaries of traditional bargaining. Through a qualitative case study, this work analyses the interplay of Lamborghini’s workplace regime with industrial relations and union’s sources of power to show how unions, under certain structural and organisational conditions, can engage in forward-looking, participatory forms of bargaining that reshape the nature of industrial relations in the digital age. Far from being reactive or defensive, innovative bargaining constitutes a proactive strategy, enabling labour to influence the technological and organisational future of the firm. It challenges conventional dichotomies between participation and conflict, consultation and negotiation, managerial prerogative and worker representation, pointing toward a renewed and expanded vision of collective action in the era of digital capitalism.