ILPC 2027

 Global logistics is the infrastructure which makes global trade possible.  In the past forty years, as global trade has grown under the rules of market fundamentalism, or neoliberalism, labor in the various logistics sectors --seafaring, longshore, trucking and warehousing -- has followed a common trajectory throughout the world, towards privatization, casualization, contingent work, independent contracting.   While the longshore workers' unions have provided a partial exception to this trend, being successful in claiming for workers a share of productivity gains in many countries, recent actions by the European Commission threaten to undermine the power of the European dockworkers. Recent developments may disrupt the global neoliberal paradigm, however.  In shipping, the advent of large ships at a time when global trade has been slowing has produced heavy losses and even bankruptcies.  The inefficiency of road transport systems based on independent contracting is inhibiting technological change and slowing distribution.  Online retailers are cutting into the sales and profits of the big-box stores and their global supply chains.  The transport and distribution hubs of the past forty years are not consistent with the needs of the growing on-line retailers and their immediate delivery formulae.  This presentation will explore how recent changes in the global logistics system challenge the efforts of workers and their unions to develop new strategies and alliances to restore labor rights, reduce income inequality, and advance environmental sustainability.  This presentation will argue that these challenges put pressure on labor to coordinate its efforts across the various logistics sectors, to build broader public coalitions, and to forge more effective transnational campaigns.