Logistics workers and global logistics: the heavy lifters of globalisation. (1st October 2010)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Is Part Of: Work, organisation, labour & globalisation. Volume 4:Number 2(2010)
• Page Start: 25
• Page End: 38
• Publication Date: 2010-10-01
• Subjects: Work -- Periodicals; Labor -- Periodicals; Division of labor -- Periodicals; Industrial relations -- Periodicals; Division of labor; Industrial relations; Labor; Work; Periodicals; 331
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-6428

Abstract

Abstract : This article examines the growing importance of logistics and logistics workers, the growth of offshoring and the changing balance between manufacturers and retailers in the post-Fordist era due in part to the bar code. It explores the interdependent relationship between technological innovation, globalisation and the expansion of the logistics sector and the impacts of time-space compression on logistics work, before examining the vulnerabilities created in global supply chains by these interdependencies. It concludes that the central place of distribution in a global economy confers a new strategic power on logistics workers.