Do choke points provide workers in logistics with power? A critique of the power resources approach in light of the 2018 truckers’ strike in Brazil

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.