Varieties of logistics and choke point possibilities: Evidence from the Italian warehousing sector.

Recent research highlights the important role of logistics within supply chains and the structural power held by logistics workers at critical choke points—namely, points in global supply chains where organization can disrupt the circulation of commodities. Although scholarship has begun to address key factors that may enable or constrain resistance, discussions of the conditions that facilitate or hinder the transformation of logistics nodes into effective choke points remain dispersed across various strands of literature. To address this gap, we draw on diverse bodies of research—including industrial relations and critical logistics scholarship—and examine the various domains that may enable and limit the potential of logistics nodes to become sites of resistance. Based on 93 semi-structured interviews with warehouse workers in two Italian provinces, the analysis identifies five emerging dimensions, each shaped by specific factors that enable or constrain the emergence of choke points in logistics: (1) the physical infrastructure, especially logistics hubs and the spatial organization of logistics in relation to immigration; (2) labor supply chains, particularly the role of subcontracting and labor intermediaries; (3) the labor market, especially the influence of geography and the characteristics of different types of logistics on workforce composition and participation; (4) labor management, notably time-management practices and technology; and (5) labor organizing, encompassing the impact of sectoral union influence on participation, the presence of grassroots unions, and emerging patterns of nonmembership.