CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 11Labor Movements and UnionsGlobal trade, sustainability, and social impactDigital Economy and Work Transformation

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

Labor organizing at chokepoints along Amazon’s supply chain: Locating geo-strategic nodes

Open access
Potiker, Spencer Louis, Smith, David A., Ciccantell, Paul S., Sowers, Elizabeth, McKenzie, Luc·2024·Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
DOI 10.1177/0308518x241228991
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Amazon seems to be creating a new hybrid model of capitalism combining some elements of classical Fordist vertical integration, or even the over hundred-year-old “Taylorism” of scientific management, with 21st century elements of labor “flexibility” and reliance on gig labor and subcontracting. This hybrid model offers opportunities for organized labor to gain a foothold within some of Amazon’s vertically integrated nodes as the firm lengthens its corporate commodity chain to grow increasingly close to consumers. Building on earlier work on opportunities for, and constraints on, labor in a variety of global commodity chains, our empirical cases examine how Amazon’s corporate strategies may open opportunities for labor in three illustrative cases ensconced in fulfillment centers—the Fordist vertical integration side of the model—in the Inland Empire and Otay Mesa (both in southern California) and Northern Kentucky.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/0308518x241228991

Cites

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 68

  1. Alimahomed-Wilson J (2021) The e-logistics revolution: E-commerce, labor, and the retransformation of the Southern California supply chain. Travail et emploi.
  2. Alimahomed-Wilson J, Ness I (2018) Chokepoints: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain. London: Pluto Press.
  3. Alimahomed-Wilson J, Reese E (2021) The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy. Wildcat Paperback. London: Pluto Press.
  4. Allen J (2020) The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
  5. Arrighi G (1994) The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times. London: Verso.
  6. 10.1515/9780804779760 · DOI
  7. 10.1068/a43505 · DOI
  8. Barthel G (2019) Against the logistics of Amazon: Challenges to build effective power. Strike the Giant! Transnational Organization against Amazon. Transnational Social Strike Platform, Fall 2019 Journal 64–71.
  9. Bonacich E, De Lara J (2009) Economic crisis and the logistics industry: Financial insecurity for warehouse workers in the Inland Empire. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
  10. Bonacich E, Hardie K (2006) Wal-Mart and the logistics revolution. In: Lichtenstein N (ed.) Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First Century Capitalism. New York, NY: New Press, pp.163–188.
  11. Bonacich E, Wilson JB (2006) Global production and distribution: Wal-Mart’s global logistics empire (with special reference to the China/Southern California Connection). In: Brunn SS (ed.) Wal-Mart World: The World’s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy. New York, NY: Routledge, pp.227–242.
  12. Bonacich E, Wilson JB (2008) Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  13. 10.1093/jeg/lbn009 · DOI
  14. Cassidy W (2019) Freight ‘funnel’ narrowing at US-Mexican border. Journal of Commerce July 8. Available at: https://www.joc.com/article/freight-funnel-narrowing-us-mexican-border_20190708.html
  15. Chua C (2021) Logistics. In: Beverly S, Farris S, Toscano A, et al. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Marxism. London: Sage UK, pp.1444–1462.
  16. 10.1177/0263775818783101 · DOI · Paper page
  17. Ciccantell PS, Potiker S, Smith DA, et al. (2023) Supply chain crises: Harbingers of deglobalization? In: Ziltener P, Suter C (eds) After Globalization. Zurich: World Society Foundation, pp.177–193.
  18. 10.1177/0020715209105146 · DOI
  19. 10.5195/jwsr.2023.1164 · DOI
  20. 10.5406/jcivihumarigh.1.2.0158 · DOI
  21. Collins J (2022) Amazon facility to be its largest - warehouse rising from a former feedlot will have more space than Disney’s California Adventure. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 31 May.
  22. 10.1177/0263775817703663 · DOI
  23. 10.1111/1468-2427.12675 · DOI
  24. 10.1525/california/9780520289581.001.0001 · DOI
  25. 10.2307/j.ctv2114fnm · DOI
  26. Downey D (2018) Moreno valley judge voids environmental report for warehouse complex. The Riverside Press Enterprise, 15 June, p. 4.
  27. 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj.18 · DOI
  28. Emmons Allison J, Reese E (2023) Unsustainable: Amazon, Warehousing, and the Politics of Exploitation. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
  29. Flaming D, Burns P (2019) Too big to govern: Public balance sheet from the world’s largest store. Economic Roundtable.
  30. 10.1017/9781108559423 · DOI · Paper page
  31. Gereffi G, Korzeniewicz M (1994) Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism. Westport, CT: Praeger.
  32. Gurley LK (2023) UPS and teamsters reach agreement, averting Aug. 1 strike. Washington Post, 25 July.
  33. Gutelius B, Theodore N (2019) The future of warehouse work: Technological change in the U.S. logistics industry. UC Berkeley Labor Center and Working Partnerships USA.
  34. Hopkins T, Wallerstein I (1986) Commodity chains in the world-economy prior to 1800. Review 10(1): 57–70.
  35. Horseman J (2021) Inland Empire is warehouse central, but how did it happen? The San Bernardino Sun, 29 September.
  36. Horseman J (2022) Amazon workers injured at higher rates than other warehouse employees, study says. The Riverside Press Enterprise, 25 April.
  37. Hussain S (2022) Amazon Union Push at Moreno Valley Warehouse Stalls. Los Angeles Times, October 22.
  38. Johnson K (2022) Amazon’s ‘safe’ new robot won’t fix its worker injury problem. Wired, 8 July.
  39. 10.1332/UVGT2823 · DOI
  40. Kassem S (2023) Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
  41. Levinson M (2011) The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
  42. 10.1177/0263775818770453 · DOI
  43. MacGillis A (2021) Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
  44. 10.1163/1569206X-20222175 · DOI
  45. 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2011.01046.x · DOI
  46. 10.1177/0263775818769654 · DOI
  47. 10.7208/chicago/9780226663067.001.0001 · DOI
  48. Perrone L (1983) Positional power and propensity to strike. Politica Y Sociedad 12: 231–261.
  49. 10.2307/2095284 · DOI
  50. Phillips S (2022) Op-Ed: We mapped the warehouse takeover of the Inland Empire. The results are overwhelming. Los Angeles Times, 1 May.
  51. 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj.13 · DOI
  52. Schwieterman J, Walls J (2020) Insights into Amazon Air: 2020’s transportation Juggernaut. Chaddick Policy Brief, 22 May.
  53. Schwieterman J, Walls J, González B, et al. (2021) Primed and positioned: Strategic moves by Amazon Air. Chaddick Policy Brief, 16 February.
  54. 10.1017/CBO9780511615702 · DOI · Paper page
  55. 10.5195/jwsr.2014.575 · DOI
  56. Stone B (2013) The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. New York, NY: Back Bay Books.
  57. Stone B (2021) Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
  58. Strategic Organizing Center (2022a) The Injury Machine: How Amazon’s Production System Hurts Workers. Washington, DC: Strategic Organizing Center.
  59. Strategic Organizing Center (2022b) The Worst Mile: Production Pressure and the Injury Crisis in Amazon’s Delivery System. Washington, DC: Strategic Organizing Center.
  60. Tung I, Berkowitz D (2020) Amazon’s Disposable Workers: High Injury and Turnover Rates at Fulfillment Centers in California. New York, NY: National Employment Law Project.
  61. 10.1177/07308884221106922 · DOI
  62. 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj.14 · DOI
  63. 10.4135/9781473915206.n16 · DOI
  64. 10.2307/2095790 · DOI
  65. Whitehead B (2022) Amazon workers at San Bernardino airport stage walkout. San Bernardino Sun, 16 August.
  66. World Bank (2020) Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  67. 10.1086/210397 · DOI
  68. Yee G (2022) Why Amazon warehouse workers walked off the job in San Bernardino. Los Angeles Times, 16 August.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

  • 'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment

    Kapania, S., Yang, T., Abdelkadir, N. A., Scheuerman, M. K., Miceli, M., Taylor, A. S., & Fox, S. E. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791097 · Cited by 2

    “Unlike manufacturing or distribution supply chains that can be disrupted through choke-points ( e.g., sorting centers for Amazon [110]), AI supply chains are typically ephemeral because of short-term projects and high turnover.”

Metadata

Authors
Potiker, S. L., Smith, D. A., Ciccantell, P. S., Sowers, E., & McKenzie, L.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • Western Michigan University (US)
  • California State University, Channel Islands (US)
Corresponding author
Potiker, Spencer Louis
ORCID
Venue
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2024-02-23
Volume
56
Issue
5
Pages
1521-1538
ISSN
  • 0308-518X (ISSN-L)
  • 1472-3409
DOI
10.1177/0308518x241228991
OpenAlex
W4392132500
Cited by
11
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1
FWCI
9.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Labor Movements and Unions
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Economy and Work Transformation
Keywords
Amazon, union organizing, supply chain, fulfillment centers, vertical integration, Fordism, scientific management, subcontracting, labour market flexibility, commodity chains, chokepoints, Inland Empire, Northern Kentucky, e-commerce logistics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review