‘Patching staff’: Subcontracting and the governance of employment relations in Chile's automotive sector

This article offers new insights into the governance of subcontracted labour by examining employment relations through the lens of managerial practices in a client firm and its contractor companies. Drawing on 23 qualitative interviews with middle and senior managers in Chile's automotive sector, the study identifies a governing logic, that of ‘patching of staff’, a management practice whereby human labour is treated as a replaceable organisational resource to absorb operational gaps and market volatility. While existing research has documented the precarious outcomes of subcontracting, this study advances understanding by revealing the managerial practices and justificatory logics through which subcontracted labour is governed and how fissured employment relations are actively reproduced. The article shows how subcontracting separates worker control from responsibility while generating organisational contradictions associated with labour instability, turnover, and challenges in maintaining service quality. The findings contribute to industrial relations debates on labour process control, fissured workplaces, and the governance of subcontracted work in liberal market economies.