Modern capitalism opens a major new front for strike action: logistics

Farang

Between them, Thatcher and Reagan were praised for “smashing the unions”. But they also engendered a market mindset of mass consolidation. And, according to this fascinating read from Kim Moody in The Conversation, in so doing they may have laid the groundwork for workers to again leverage employers for better standards and higher remuneration. It seems logistics clusters are particularly vulnerable to worker disruption. As Mr Moody notes, striking warehouse workers could close production up and down a supply chain, and inflict “huge damage” on a business’s reputation for reliability.

“It is one of the great ironies of modern capitalism that we are now seeing the massive concentrations of manual workers that business leaders once sought to escape,” he adds. “We have not yet seen unions trying to take advantage of these situations, partly perhaps after decades on the backfoot and partly because the likes of warehouse workers tend not to unionise.”