Abstract

Choke points in transport and logistics have been identified as devices of the power of workers in these sectors. The 11 day long strike of around 400,000 Brazilian truck drivers at more than 750 blockades in May 2018 exercised an effective blockade of the national economy but only led to meagre results. The article asks how this mismatch between the power to block the flow of goods and the lack of power to achieve significant improvements of the truckers’ situation can be explained. It demonstrates that analyses with a focus on the power resources of workers fail to understand the larger dynamics at play. The article proposes a political economy of labour as an analytical device that incorporates global economic relations, the characteristics of social formations and political-ideological relations into its ambit. It claims that in order to understand the economic and political leverage of workers in transport and logistics, one has to look at capital as a broader social relation which includes long term development strategies and material constraints like energy systems and infrastructure.

摘要

运输和物流中的阻塞点已被确定为这些部门工人权力的工具。2018 年 5 月，约 400,000 名巴西卡车司机在 750 多次封锁下进行了为期 11 天的罢工，有效地封锁了国民经济，但收效甚微。文章询问如何解释阻碍货物流动的权力与缺乏实现卡车司机状况显着改善的权力之间的不匹配。它表明，专注于工人权力资源的分析无法理解更大的动态。本文提出将劳动政治经济学作为一种分析工具，将全球经济关系、社会形态特征和政治意识形态关系纳入其范围。