Labour Organising in Logistics Warehouses: The case of South Yorkshire and Inland Empire

Project description

The primary ambition and overarching objective of this PGR project is to understand how trade unions and workers can achieve better conditions in global logistics warehouses. This is important for three main reasons. First, logistics and warehouse and parcel delivery services play a central role in the current processes of capital accumulation, given the growing importance of just-in-time chains of distribution (Bonacich and Wilson, 2008). Second, working conditions in logistics warehouses tend to be extremely poor. The workforce is often fragmented, exploited and hired via fixed-term work contracts, outsourcing and (bogus) self-employment (Barnes and Ali, 2021). Moreover, as most workers are migrants or belong to minority groups, these poor working conditions are accompanied by discriminatory, hostile and xenophobic treatment (Alimahomed-Wilson, 2019). Third, although there is agreement on warehouse workers holding a strategic position in contemporary capitalism – being employed at ‘chokepoints’ (Wilson and Ness, 2018) -, many logistics warehouses in the UK and beyond have not witnessed the emergence of labour organising initiatives (Dörflinger et al., 2021). 

This PGR project will study the specific conditions faced by warehouse workers, the challenges that trade unions and workers face to organise, and the practices that can make these organising efforts successful. The project will provide an international comparative focus on South Yorkshire and Inland Empire in Southern California. This research project will be conducted using qualitative research methods. The successful candidate will have a social science background with expertise in work and employment as well as a strong aptitude for qualitative research design.

International collaborator(s)

The research project will be undertaken in collaboration with the Labor Center at the University of California, Riverside. The University of California, Riverside is currently expanding its labour research and teaching offering at the new Inland Empire Labor and Community Research Center with a focus on the study of labour policy, jobs, and economic and social impacts of labour in the logistics sector. The project will involve a 4-6 month placement based in Southern California for qualitative fieldwork to be undertaken in the Inland Empire. UC Riverside’s Professor of Sociology Ellen Reese will provide research support and will assist in building contacts with relevant trade unions and gaining access to work sites for research purposes. In addition, the student will be provided with office space at the university and will be welcome to attend academic events and classes in the Sociology Department and Labor Studies programme.