Work in logistics and transport has moved to the centre of attention of labour studies in the past few years. One of the central assumptions of this research is that workers in this sector command the power to block so called choke points, crucial nodes where commodities have to pass, like ports and warehouses, providing these workers with extraordinary power. In the study Logistik, Machtressourcen und politische Ökonomie des Rohstoffexports about the 11 day long strike of truck drivers and petroleum platform workers that occured in Brazil in 2008, Jörg Nowak contends the assumption that the power to block choke points is sufficient for effective exercise of power of workers. In this guest post, Jörg provides a summary of the main argument in English.
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