Choke Points

Global capitalism is a precarious system. Relying on the steady flow of goods across the world, trans-national companies such as Wal-Mart and Amazon depend on the work of millions in docks, warehouses and logistics centres to keep their goods moving.

This is the global supply chain, and, if the chain is broken, capitalism grinds to a halt. This book looks at case studies across the world to uncover a network of resistance by these workers who, despite their importance, often face vast exploitation and economic violence.

Experiencing first hand wildcat strikes, organised blockades and boycotts, the authors explore a diverse range of case studies, from South China dockworkers to the transformation of the port of Piraeus in Greece, and from the Southern California logistics sector, to dock and logistical workers in Chile and unions in Turkey.

“'Beyond analyzing logistical choke points as abstract sites for capital to route around or locations in which workers acquire untimely power, this volume takes us straight into these crucial nodes of labor struggle. Choke points in global supply chains are revealed as spaces of hazard and calculation, violence and negotiation, victory and loss, passion and organization'”

'This phenomenal collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the dire state of the contemporary global economy. It offers an unprecedented analysis of supply chain capitalism through case studies from around the world that are beautifully written and carefully researched'

-- Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto

'Takes us straight into these crucial nodes of labor struggle. Choke points in global supply chains are revealed as spaces of hazard and calculation, violence and negotiation, victory and loss, passion and organisation'

-- Brett Neilson, Research Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

Immanuel Ness is Professor of Political Science at City University of New York. He is author of Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class (Pluto, 2015), co-editor of Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain (Pluto, 2018) and editor of the International Encyclopaedia of Revolution and Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society.

Jake Alimahomed-Wilson is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach. His research interests are in the areas of logistics, racism and labour, and workers' struggles. He is the author of Solidarity Forever? Race, Gender, and Unionism in the Ports of Southern California (Lexington Books, 2016), co-author of Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2008) and the editor of Choke Points (Pluto, 2018).

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