The politics of a small trucking business

The story in this episode is composite, drawn from real events. Identifying details are changed. Real-world events the story draws on, full citations, and further reading are below.REAL-WORLD EVENTS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEAustralia- Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, established 2012 under the Road Safety Remuneration Act, abolished 21 April 2016.- Closing Loopholes Act 2023 and Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024, introducing "employee-like" classification for road transport workers and gig workers.- Heavy Vehicle National Law and Chain of Responsibility provisions, effective 1 October 2018.- Documented Australian truck driver and food delivery rider deaths and the campaigning by transport workers and their families that has followed.- Migrant Worker Justice Initiative findings on underpayment and ABN-classified work among migrant workers in Australian transport.- Refugee resettlement into Australian trucking through Work and Welcome and similar programs.Brazil- Breque dos Apps, the national strike by Brazilian food platform delivery workers on 1 July 2020, organised across 13 states against iFood, Loggi, Uber Eats and Rappi.- Subsequent waves of platform delivery worker organising in 2024 and 2025, including the 2025 National App Strike.South Africa- The cross-border road freight workforce in Southern Africa, including foreign-registered owner-operators and drivers from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and other neighbouring countries.- Documented attacks on foreign-registered trucking businesses and the disputes between South African and foreign trucking interests over classification and access to work.REFERENCES[1] Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I (Hamburg: Verlag von Otto Meissner, 1867). https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/[2] Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1972). https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/rodney-walter/how-europe/index.htmVerónica Gago, Feminist International: How to Change Everything (London: Verso, 2020). https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2783-feminist-international[3] Australian Council of Trade Unions, "Our History." https://www.actu.org.au/about-the-actu/our-history[4] Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, section "Estranged Labour." https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm[5] Verónica Gago, Neoliberalism From Below: Popular Pragmatics and Baroque Economies (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017). https://www.dukeupress.edu/neoliberalism-from-below[6] Louise Toupin, Wages for Housework: A History of an International Feminist Movement, 1972-1977 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018). https://www.ubcpress.ca/wages-for-housework[7] International Labour Organization, World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The Role of Digital Labour Platforms in Transforming the World of Work (Geneva: ILO, 2021). https://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/weso/2021/lang--en/index.htm[8] Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012 (Cth). https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2012A00045/latestTransport Workers' Union of Australia, "Safe Rates." https://www.twu.com.au[9] Claire Mayhew and Michael Quinlan, "Economic Pressure, Multi-tiered Subcontracting and Occupational Health and Safety in Australian Long Haul Trucking," Employee Relations 28, no. 3 (2006): 212-229.[10] National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, "Chain of Responsibility." https://www.nhvr.gov.au/safety-accreditation-compliance/chain-of-responsibility[11] Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Geneva: United Nations, 2011). https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf[12] Surya Deva, Regulating Corporate Human Rights Violations: Humanizing Business (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012).UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-development[13] Laurie Berg and Bassina Farbenblum, International Students and Wage Theft in Australia (Sydney: Migrant Worker Justice Initiative, UTS Law, 2020). https://www.mwji.orgTransport Workers' Union of Australia, "Landmark Report on Migrant Underpayment Shows Need to Lift Standards in Transport." https://www.twu.com.au/press/landmark-report-on-migrant-underpayment-shows-need-to-lift-standards-in-transport/[14] Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1972; reissued London: Verso, 2018).[15] Ricardo Antunes, O Privilégio da Servidão: O Novo Proletariado de Serviços na Era Digital (São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2018). https://www.boitempoeditorial.com.br/produto/o-privilegio-da-servidao-1141[16] Ludmila Costhek Abílio, Rafael Grohmann, and Henrique Amorim, "Breaking the Apps: The Making of the First National Strike by Food Platform Delivery Workers in Brazil," Social Movement Studies (2025). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2025.2562886Octavia Sibanda, "Attacks on Road-Freight Transporters: A Threat to Trade Participation for Landlocked Countries in Southern Africa." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8791686/FURTHER READINGKarl Marx, Capital, Volume I (1867). The foundational text on labour, value, and the political economy of work under capitalism.Verónica Gago, Feminist International: How to Change Everything (Verso, 2020). Argentine feminist political economy on uncounted labour and the feminist strike.Wages for Housework movement (Italy, 1972). Movement history at https://www.ubcpress.ca/wages-for-houseworkMichael Quinlan and colleagues, Counting the Costs of Industrial Death (Federation Press, 2006). Decades of Australian research on the economic structure of trucking deaths.Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972). Guyanese historian on the colonial political economy of extracted labour.Surya Deva, Regulating Corporate Human Rights Violations (Routledge, 2012). Global South legal scholarship on corporate accountability and supply chain human rights.Ricardo Antunes, The Meanings of Work (Brill, 2013). Brazilian sociology on the contemporary "servant class" and platform labour.About the hostLiv Roe is a civic and political adviser based in Melbourne. She works with businesses, organisations, and individuals on the political and civic context of their work. Book a consultation at livroe.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit civicsandcommerce.substack.com