Behind the pulp pedaled by the media about empty shelves in supermarkets, where the finger is always pointed at the greed selfish public, never a word of criticism of the supermarkets and the food industry. Well there is more to the story than the public generally know, The following article,
thanks Loam for the link, is from
Angry Workers Of The World:
Everyone is complaining about empty supermarket shelves. Lots of
people are now asking themselves how they get filled in the first place.
But hoarding and panic buying is a relatively minor issue – with highly
calibrated ‘just-in-time’ production, shelves can be bare with only
take a £6-10 increase in the normal shopping spend per household. Even
if people are buying much more than this, it’s not just ‘selfish
individuals’ who are to blame. We have to look at the political issues
around the individualisation of working class communities over the last
few decades, as well as rational responses to a government recommending
self-isolation for 14 days if a family member has symptoms. More
importantly though, we have to look at the structural constraints of the
food supply-chain. Below you can find a few thoughts about this in
particular.
AngryWorkers’ comrades have worked in food processing factories and
distribution centres for several years, organising independent workers’
bulletins and trying to expand the scope of workers’ self-activity as
militant shop-stewards. This experience and an analysis of the wider
food industry forms the major part of our new book, ‘Class Power on
Zero-Hours’. In the second part of the book we look at the composition
of this ‘essential industry’ in the UK and ask what a workers’ takeover
and control of this industry would mean in today’s globalised (food)
production system:
Any spike in demand brings immense difficulties because of an already
overstretched supply-chain in the food sector. Here is a list of
reasons why the supply-chains are susceptible to breaking point during
the current crisis:
1) A dependency on global food supplies
In the early 1980s, UK farms produced around 78% of the country’s staple
foods. Today the UK has to import nearly half of its food from abroad,
primarily from EU countries, but also from further afield. Under
capitalism we have the absurd situation that, for example, live chickens
and raw seafood are exported from EU countries to lower wage regions in
order to be processed there and send back as frozen goods. The price of
higher profit margins is extra work and pollution.
2) An overstretched transport system
The share of food transported by aeroplane has risen by 140% since the
early 90s. By 2000 this meant that 1 out of every 7.5 ton of goods flown
into the UK was food. Furthermore, a lot of the food is stored in
tourist passenger machines. So with tourism on hold due to the Corona
crisis and the grounding of many planes, this transport link to get food
into the country is under stress. But it’s not only the closing of
borders which causes problems. The main problem when trying to expand
transport is a chronic shortage of truck drivers due to the bad working
conditions. [1] Many continue to work not because they are being
‘heroic’, rather they don’t have much choice as self-employed workers.
The average age of a truck driver in the UK is 53 with 13% over 60 and
only 2% under 25. This skewed demographic might really mess things up if
and when they develop symptoms.
3) A spatially concentrated agriculture
In the UK, areas around Spalding or the greenhouse complex Thanet Earth
in Kent, [2] are highly concentrated agricultural hubs. For example,
Thanet Earth produces 225 million tomatoes on around 1 square mile.
These structures are at full capacity and structural expansion is
relatively inflexible. In addition, and partly due to the Brexit
dilemma, there is a shortage of agricultural labour. Despite talking
tough on ‘unskilled migration’, the UK government has had to make
extra-deals with Ukraine, for example, to secure supply of labour. [3]
4) Warehouse space at capacity limit
The panic around ‘no deal Brexit’ had already revealed that there is an
absolute lack of chilled warehouse space in the UK. [4] In the UK in
particular warehouse space has become a major part of the real estate
bubble, with companies like Segro speculating around land use. Chilled
warehouses are up to four times more expensive than usual warehouses and
cannot be ramped up at short notice.
5) Concentration process in food processing
There has been an enormous concentration process in the food processing
supply-chain over the last few decades. Let’s take abattoirs as an
example: they shrank from 1022 in 1985 to 380 in 2000. Then let’s take a
look at flour mills: there are only three or four major flour mills
left in the UK. Two industrial companies share 55% of the bread market
in the UK. And a quarter of all ready-made sandwiches come from one
manufacturer. This means that these companies are at full capacity at
the best of times. Despite all the hype around automation, food
processing is actually pretty labour intensive. In the factories where
we worked the lines are overcrowded, there is no physical space for
extra staff and, even in London in some workplaces – like the Tesco
distribution centre in Greenford – there can be a shortage of labour.
6) Supply problems for food processing
Not only finished food arrives in the UK from abroad. The food
processing industry relies on many half-finished products. In the case
of the recent CO2/ammonia shortage in 2018 we can see how concentrated
the production is within Europe. The gas is used to put bubbles in
drinks and to stun chickens and pigs before slaughter. It is a
by-product of fertiliser production. An uncoordinated shut-down of three
manufacturers in Europe caused widespread disruption in slaughterhouses
and drinks manufacturers in the UK. [5]
7) A fragile logistics system
Most supermarkets have reduced the numbers of distribution centres (DCs)
drastically, many having outsourced distribution to logistics
companies. As well as reducing their direct control on day-to-day
logistics operations, there are fewer bigger warehouses that increase
supply-chain risks. Tesco supplies 3,700 stores with only 25 DCs. These
are already at full capacity, as frequent hiccups in the logistics chain
demonstrate. [6] This concentration process is even more pronounced
when it comes to grocery home deliveries: Ocado operates only four main
distribution centres for the whole of the UK. With higher automation
levels any technical fault causes major problems. [7]
8) A highly concentrated grocery retail sector
The final distribution and sales depends on a few big companies. The
share of supermarkets in total grocery sales increased from 44% in 1971
to 60% in 1980 and 80% in 1990 and reaches 90% today, basically
dominated by Tesco and Walmart. There is not much slack in the chain.
Furthermore, these companies have a function of ‘central command’ which
has been used by governments during times of crisis before, such as
during food and mouth epidemic in 2001 and national petrol truck drivers
strikes in 2012. Recently the Chinese government used the data pool of
the major retail platform Alibaba for social surveillance.
9) Management bullying and workers anger
The main structural constraint is the disengagement of workers from
work. Conditions in logistics and food processing are characterised by
brutal management regimes and low paid workers who are forced into
repetitive work and therefore don’t give a fuck. They are disengaged not
only from the company goals and work process, but also from their
so-called representatives. Tesco started paying workers who keep on
working during the Corona crisis a 10% bonus bribe, lauded by the union
USDAW. This is after years of union co-managed cuts in weekend, night
shift and annual bonuses.
——
Under a profit-oriented system the concentration process of food
production and distribution means that there are hardly any margins for
error. But it also means that workers have a potentially unified and
concentrated power. Instead of wishing us back into a situation of
artisan producers and petty shop-owners we should organise for workers’
takeover and control. You can read in our book that this will be hard
work that won’t be done by (Labour) government decree.
Visit ann arky's home at
https://radicalglasgow.me.uk
