Global value chains (GVCs) have become the dominant form of industrial organization in the global economy. Although the economic outcomes of GVC restructuring have been measured and the determinants theorized, there is a lack of empirical research on the real processes of GVC restructuring and its impact on labour in the Global North. This article helps to address this gap by investigating the effect of the participation in GVCs on the lead firms’ value-capturing strategies and on workers’ ability to defend and improve their working conditions in the Swiss machinery industry. Based on a critical GVC approach and a qualitative study of two work conflicts, the study demonstrates how GVCs shape a variety of new strategies for capital and labour; enhancing forms of management strategies and weakening the possibilities for workers’ counterstrategies by eroding collectivism and solidarity and promoting individualism among workers.

全球价值链（GVCs）已成为全球经济中产业组织的主导形式。尽管全球价值链重组的经济成果已经被衡量，决定因素已经被理论化，但缺乏对全球价值链重组的真实过程及其对全球北方劳动力的影响的实证研究。本文通过调查参与全球价值链对领先公司的价值获取战略以及工人在瑞士机械行业捍卫和改善其工作条件的能力的影响来帮助解决这一差距。基于批判性的全球价值链方法和对两个工作冲突的定性研究，该研究展示了全球价值链如何塑造各种新的资本和劳动力战略；