Unfree shipping: the racialisation of logistics labour

Alimahomed-Wilson, Jake

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.1.0096

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Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Volume 13, Issue 1

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Unfree shipping: the racialisation of logistics labour

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Author(s): Jake Alimahomed-Wilson

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2019

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: racialisation of labour, logistics, unions, low-wage work, labour subcontracting, supply chains, warehousing, trucking, ports, migrant and immigrant workers

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Abstract

The logistics revolution has transformed the ways that goods are produced and transported around the world, producing numerous deleterious outcomes for workers, including the deterioration of wages and labour standards, attacks on unions, and the increase of precarious contingent labour conditions. A related, yet underexplored, process related to the logistics revolution has been the role of racialisation in further amplifying the deterioration of working conditions across the global supply chain. In this context, this article explores how the racialisation of labour impacts logistics workers in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region. Drawing on case studies of low-wage, non-union Latinx workers in the warehouse and port trucking industries of Southern California, I argue that racialisation has accelerated the negative labour impacts related to the logistics revolution across these sectors.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50010512

Journal ID (jcode): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 1745-641X

ISSN: 1745-6428

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2019

Volume: 13

Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.issue-1 )

Pages: 96-113

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.13.1.0096

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.1.0096

SO-VID: 0b3b1999-f6d9-409e-99fe-7ff5dc703b04

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

Keywords: warehousing,migrant and immigrant workers,ports,trucking,supply chains,labour subcontracting,low-wage work,unions,logistics,racialisation of labour

REFERENCES

Alimahomed-Wilson, J. (2016) Solidarity Forever? Race, Gender, and Unionism in the Ports of Southern California, New York: Lexington Books.
Alimahomed-Wilson, J., K. Fox-Hodess & K. Moody (2018) ‘Seizing the chokepoints', Interview by Chris Browne, Jacobin Magazine, October. Accessed March 20, 2019 from https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/10/choke-points-logistics-industry-organizing-unions.
Alimahomed-Wilson, J. & I. Ness (2018) Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books.
Alimahomed-Wilson, J. & S. Potiker (2017) ‘The logistics of occupation: Israel's colonial suppression of Palestine's goods movement infrastructure', Journal of Labor and Society, 20 (4):427-47.
Allison, J.E., J.S. Herrera, J. Struna & E. Reese (2018) ‘The matrix of exploitation and temporary employment: Earnings inequality among inland southern California's blue-collar warehouse workers', Journal of Labor and Society, 21:533-60.
Almaguer, T. (1994) Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Amazon Workers and Supporters (2018) ‘Stop treating us like dogs! Workers’ organising resistance at Amazon in Poland', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:96-109.
Belzer, M. (2000) Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation, Oxford: University of Oxford Press.
Benvegnù, C. & N. Cuppini (2018) ‘Struggles and grassroots organizing in an extended European choke point', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:230-42.
Bonacich, E., S. Alimahomed & J.B. Wilson (2008) ‘The racialization of global labor', American Behavioral Scientist, 52 (3):342-55.
Bonacich, E. & J.B. Wilson (2008) Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Bullard, R. (1990) Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, Boulder: Westview Press.
Cho, E.H., A. Christman, M. Emsellem, C.K. Ruckelshaus & R. Smith (2012) ‘Chain of greed: How Walmart's domestic outsourcing produces everyday low wages and poor working conditions for warehouse workers', National Employment Law Project. Accessed July 1, 2018 from https://s27147.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChainOfGreed.pdf.
De Lara, J. (2013) ‘Warehouse work: Path to the middle class or road to economic security?', USC Program for Environmental & Regional Equity. Accessed July 2, 2018 from https://dornsifecms.usc.edu/assets/sites/242/docs/WarehouseWorkerPay_3_web.pdf.
De Lara, J. (2018) Inland Shift: Race, Space, and Capital in Southern California, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gans, H. (2017) ‘Racialization and racialization research', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40 (3):341-52.
Glenn, E.N. (2003) Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Han, D. (2010) ‘Policing and racialization of rural migrant workers in China', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33 (4): 593-610.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (2001) Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kaoosji, S. (2018) ‘Lessons learned from eight years of experimental organizing in Southern California's logistics sector', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:214-29.
Kirkham, C. (2015) ‘Inland empire sees surge in warehouse jobs, but many are low pay, temporary', Los Angeles Times, April 17. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-inland-empire-warehouses-20150419-story.html.
Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (2017) ‘Goods on the move: Trade and logistics in Southern California'. Accessed February 20, 2019, https://laedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/TL_20170515_Final.pdf.
Milkman, R. & K. Wong (2001) ‘Organizing immigrant workers: Case studies from Southern California', in L. Turner, H.C. Katz & R.W. Hurd (eds), Rekindling the Movement: Labor's Quest for Relevance in the 21st Century, Ithaca: Cornell University Press:99-128.
Monaco, K. & L. Grobar (2004) ‘A study of drayage at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach', Department of Economics, California State University, Long Beach. Accessed March 20, 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240628100_A_Study_of_Drayage_at_the_Ports_of_Los_Angeles_and_Long_Beach.
Moody, K. (2017) On New Terrain: How Capital is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War, Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Murga, A. (2012) ‘The racialization of day labor work in the U.S. labor market: Examining the exploitation of immigrant labor', Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station.
Murji, K. & J. Solomos (2005) Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice, New York: Oxford University Press.
Omi, M. & H. Winant (1994) Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, 2nd ed., New York: Routledge.
Powell, J. (2012) Racing to Justice, Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Reese, E. & J. Struna (2018) ‘”Work hard, make history”: Oppression and resistance in inland southern California's warehouse and distribution industry’, in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:81-95.
Sáenz, R. & K.M. Douglas (2015) ‘A call for the racialization of immigration studies: On the transition from ethnic immigrants to racialized immigrants', Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1 (1):166-80.
Sears, C. (2018) ‘Driver misclassification and clean truck programs: An in-depth analysis of two Southern California ports', Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College. Accessed November 24, 2018 from https://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/UEP/Comps/Claire%20Sears_Driver%20Miscalssification%20and%20Clean%20Truck%20Program.pdf.
Struna, J. (2015) ‘Handling globalization: Labor, capital, and class in the globalized warehouse and distribution center', Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside.
Struna, J., K. Curwin, E. Elias, E. Reese, T. Roberts & E. Bingle (2012) ‘Unsafe and unfair: Labor conditions in the warehouse industry', Policy Matters, 5 (2):1-12. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.warehouseworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/UC-Riverside-Warehouse-Industry-Study_Summer-2012.pdf.
Talley, W. (2004) ‘Wage differentials of intermodal transportation carriers and ports: Deregulation versus regulation', Review of Network Economics, 3 (2):1-21.
Warehouse Workers United and Deogracia Cornelio (2011) ‘Shattered dreams and broken bodies: A brief overview of the inland empire warehouse industry', UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.warehouseworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/Shattered_Dreams_and_Broken_Bodies718.pdf.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Alimahomed-Wilson, J. (2016) Solidarity Forever? Race, Gender, and Unionism in the Ports of Southern California, New York: Lexington Books.

[2] Alimahomed-Wilson, J., K. Fox-Hodess & K. Moody (2018) ‘Seizing the chokepoints', Interview by Chris Browne, Jacobin Magazine, October. Accessed March 20, 2019 from https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/10/choke-points-logistics-industry-organizing-unions.

[3] Alimahomed-Wilson, J. & I. Ness (2018) Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books.

[4] Alimahomed-Wilson, J. & S. Potiker (2017) ‘The logistics of occupation: Israel's colonial suppression of Palestine's goods movement infrastructure', Journal of Labor and Society, 20 (4):427-47.

[5] Allison, J.E., J.S. Herrera, J. Struna & E. Reese (2018) ‘The matrix of exploitation and temporary employment: Earnings inequality among inland southern California's blue-collar warehouse workers', Journal of Labor and Society, 21:533-60.

[6] Almaguer, T. (1994) Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Berkeley: University of California Press.

[7] Amazon Workers and Supporters (2018) ‘Stop treating us like dogs! Workers’ organising resistance at Amazon in Poland', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:96-109.

[8] Belzer, M. (2000) Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation, Oxford: University of Oxford Press.

[9] Benvegnù, C. & N. Cuppini (2018) ‘Struggles and grassroots organizing in an extended European choke point', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:230-42.

[10] Bonacich, E., S. Alimahomed & J.B. Wilson (2008) ‘The racialization of global labor', American Behavioral Scientist, 52 (3):342-55.

[11] Bonacich, E. & J.B. Wilson (2008) Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[12] Bullard, R. (1990) Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, Boulder: Westview Press.

[13] Cho, E.H., A. Christman, M. Emsellem, C.K. Ruckelshaus & R. Smith (2012) ‘Chain of greed: How Walmart's domestic outsourcing produces everyday low wages and poor working conditions for warehouse workers', National Employment Law Project. Accessed July 1, 2018 from https://s27147.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChainOfGreed.pdf.

[14] De Lara, J. (2013) ‘Warehouse work: Path to the middle class or road to economic security?', USC Program for Environmental & Regional Equity. Accessed July 2, 2018 from https://dornsifecms.usc.edu/assets/sites/242/docs/WarehouseWorkerPay_3_web.pdf.

[15] De Lara, J. (2018) Inland Shift: Race, Space, and Capital in Southern California, Berkeley: University of California Press.

[16] Gans, H. (2017) ‘Racialization and racialization research', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40 (3):341-52.

[17] Glenn, E.N. (2003) Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

[18] Han, D. (2010) ‘Policing and racialization of rural migrant workers in China', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33 (4): 593-610.

[19] Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (2001) Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence, Berkeley: University of California Press.

[20] Kaoosji, S. (2018) ‘Lessons learned from eight years of experimental organizing in Southern California's logistics sector', in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:214-29.

[21] Kirkham, C. (2015) ‘Inland empire sees surge in warehouse jobs, but many are low pay, temporary', Los Angeles Times, April 17. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-inland-empire-warehouses-20150419-story.html.

[22] Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (2017) ‘Goods on the move: Trade and logistics in Southern California'. Accessed February 20, 2019, https://laedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/TL_20170515_Final.pdf.

[23] Milkman, R. & K. Wong (2001) ‘Organizing immigrant workers: Case studies from Southern California', in L. Turner, H.C. Katz & R.W. Hurd (eds), Rekindling the Movement: Labor's Quest for Relevance in the 21st Century, Ithaca: Cornell University Press:99-128.

[24] Monaco, K. & L. Grobar (2004) ‘A study of drayage at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach', Department of Economics, California State University, Long Beach. Accessed March 20, 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240628100_A_Study_of_Drayage_at_the_Ports_of_Los_Angeles_and_Long_Beach.

[25] Moody, K. (2017) On New Terrain: How Capital is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War, Chicago: Haymarket Books.

[26] Murga, A. (2012) ‘The racialization of day labor work in the U.S. labor market: Examining the exploitation of immigrant labor', Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station.

[27] Murji, K. & J. Solomos (2005) Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice, New York: Oxford University Press.

[28] Omi, M. & H. Winant (1994) Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, 2nd ed., New York: Routledge.

[29] Powell, J. (2012) Racing to Justice, Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

[30] Reese, E. & J. Struna (2018) ‘”Work hard, make history”: Oppression and resistance in inland southern California's warehouse and distribution industry’, in J. Alimahomed-Wilson & I. Ness (eds), Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain, London: Pluto Books:81-95.

[31] Sáenz, R. & K.M. Douglas (2015) ‘A call for the racialization of immigration studies: On the transition from ethnic immigrants to racialized immigrants', Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1 (1):166-80.

[32] Sears, C. (2018) ‘Driver misclassification and clean truck programs: An in-depth analysis of two Southern California ports', Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College. Accessed November 24, 2018 from https://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/UEP/Comps/Claire%20Sears_Driver%20Miscalssification%20and%20Clean%20Truck%20Program.pdf.

[33] Struna, J. (2015) ‘Handling globalization: Labor, capital, and class in the globalized warehouse and distribution center', Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside.

[34] Struna, J., K. Curwin, E. Elias, E. Reese, T. Roberts & E. Bingle (2012) ‘Unsafe and unfair: Labor conditions in the warehouse industry', Policy Matters, 5 (2):1-12. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.warehouseworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/UC-Riverside-Warehouse-Industry-Study_Summer-2012.pdf.

[35] Talley, W. (2004) ‘Wage differentials of intermodal transportation carriers and ports: Deregulation versus regulation', Review of Network Economics, 3 (2):1-21.

[36] Warehouse Workers United and Deogracia Cornelio (2011) ‘Shattered dreams and broken bodies: A brief overview of the inland empire warehouse industry', UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program. Accessed July 1, 2018 from http://www.warehouseworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/Shattered_Dreams_and_Broken_Bodies718.pdf.