Supply chain capitalism: Exploring job quality for delivery workers in the UK

The focus of this chapter is to explore the dynamics and impact of supply chain capitalism upon job quality and work quality of parcel delivery workers in the UK. Muñoz de Bustillo’s focus is upon work quality and employment quality; however the chapter extends our understanding of the dynamics of job quality by focusing not only on directly employed workers, but also on dependent self-employed workers and the apparent extraction of parcel delivery workers from an employment relationship. The data presented in the chapter exposes the fiction of ‘self-employment’ in parcel delivery, promoting further consideration of contractual arrangements as a measure of job quality. It necessarily invokes the UK’s institutional support for dependent self-employment. The chapter consciously locates the job and work quality of parcel delivery workers as an outcome of not only contestation within the workplace but also of the dynamics of wider supply chain and sector pressures. This chapter explores the dynamics and impact of supply chain capitalism upon job quality and work quality of parcel delivery workers in the UK. The case exposes the tension over 'preference' for self-employment, cast in terms of work autonomy as a trade-off for employment rights and reflected in case studies of parcel delivery workers, but also the subjective dimensions of job satisfaction and quality. In terms of job quality diverse employment contracts in parcel delivery including temporary workers, self-employed owner-drives and home-based couriers are increasingly in evidence. The concurrent process of 'value capture' within the parcel delivery companies themselves presents the possibility of significant impact on job quality and the degradation of work. The chapter focuses on a qualitative research project, exploring the impact of supply chain pressures on the work and employment of parcel delivery workers. It also explores the political economy of the parcel delivery sector before moving on to outline research methods.