Making Space for People in Truck Driving Work

全球经济的结构是围绕并高度依赖于货物从生产地到消费地的快速无摩擦流动。公路货运提供了一系列重要的社会和经济服务，从确保超市货架上有货，到向医院运送药品，再到向建筑工地运送砖块。英国79%的货物通过公路运输，主要是卡车。然而，人们对从事公路货运工作的人的生活知之甚少。2021年夏天，卡车司机短缺成为英国媒体的头条新闻。然而，这个问题并不新鲜-英国脱欧和COVID-19大流行加剧了这个问题-但自2008/9全球金融危机以来，进入该行业的司机太少，导致劳动力老龄化，司机长期短缺。除此之外，英国卡车司机主要是白色（95.5%）和男性（99%），统计数据也反映在许多其他国家。卡车司机是超机动的，因为他们需要旅行-并且不断地移动-为了他们的工作。但这种工作模式对于那些有无偿工作责任的人来说是非常难以管理的，包括但不限于照顾孩子或亲戚。一系列因素被用来解释货运司机从该部门外流的原因。但我们真的不知道为什么人们不想成为或保持卡车司机了。虽然英国媒体的头条新闻都在谈论加薪，但这种加薪并不是全行业的，更重要的是，薪酬只是工人面临的众多问题之一。这项研究探讨了如何重新配置物流，以改善工人的生活，并通过这一点，吸引和留住多元化的劳动力。它研究了卡车司机的工作是如何被大众媒体和行业本身所代表的，卡车司机如何体验他们的工作-特别是那些在行业中代表性不足的人，以及可以做些什么来使卡车驾驶成为人们想要做的工作。在这样做的过程中，我们的研究将有助于改善物流部门和工人的生活在英国和超越。研究回答了三个研究问题：（1）如何是卡车运输工作的经验，协调和代表？(2)为了吸引和留住多样化的工人，需要做出哪些改变？(3)谁是影响变革的关键行动者？回答这些问题需要对工人生活有深度和广度的理解。我们将通过使用定量（调查）和定性（文件分析，人种学，访谈，移动的方法）方法来做到这一点，这些方法与卡车司机，他们的家人，货运经理和路由器以及更广泛的部门和媒体进行接触，获得听觉，数字，文本和视觉数据。这项研究将包括有史以来第一次大规模的定量调查英国卡车司机，包括目前和过去的工人，提供了一个独特的视角，英国卡车司机的经验，观点和做法。这将与“深度潜水”方法相结合，使我们能够更详细地了解卡车司机的经验。移动的民族志将允许司机负责，并向我们展示他们的工作生活，而工作场所民族志将允许我们了解货运办公室的内部运作，协调卡车驾驶工作。我们将在整个项目中与学术界、行业和政府利益相关者互动。学术和工业咨询小组已经成立，并支持研究提案的设计。这两个小组将支持研究的执行和产生的影响。将利用一系列事件和活动与更广泛的利益相关者进行互动，包括：网络研讨会和研讨会、行业杂志出版物、社交媒体参与、非学术报告、政策简报、学术期刊文章以及会议和演示。

The global economy is structured around, and highly dependent on, fast frictionless movement of goods from sites of production to sites of consumption. Road freight provides a range of critical social and economic services, from ensuring supermarkets shelves are stocked, to delivering medicines to hospitals, and bricks to construction sites. And 79% of goods in the UK are moved by road, predominantly in trucks. Yet remarkably little is known about the lives of people working in road freight. In summer 2021, a shortage of truck drivers made headlines in the British press. Yet this issue is not new - it has been exacerbated by Brexit and the COVID19 pandemic - but since the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis there have been too few drivers entering the sector leading to an aging workforce, and a chronic shortage of drivers. As well as this, UK truck drivers are predominantly white (95.5%) and male (99%), statistics that are mirrored in many other countries too. Truck drivers are hypermobile in that they are required to travel - and be constantly on the move - for their work. But this model of work is incredibly difficult to manage for those who have unpaid work responsibilities including, but not limited to caring for children or relatives. A host of factors have been used to explain the exodus of freight drivers from the sector. But we don't really know why people don't want to become - or remain - truck drivers anymore. While UK mass media headlines are talking of rising salaries, this pay rise is not sector-wide, and more importantly, pay is just one of many issues for workers.This research asks how logistics can be reconfigured to improve workers' lives, and through this, attract and retain a diverse workforce. It examines how the work truck drivers do is represented by the mass media and within the sector itself, how truck drivers experience their work - particularly those underrepresented in the sector, and what can be done to make truck driving a job that people want to do. In doing so, our research will contribute to improving the logistics sector and workers' lives in the UK and beyond.The research responds to three research questions: (1) How is trucking work experienced, coordinated and represented? (2) What needs to change to attract and retain a diversity of workers? (3) Who are the key actors in effecting change?Answering these questions requires both a depth and breadth of understanding of workers' lives. We will do this this through the use of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (document analysis, ethnographies, interviews, mobile methods) methods, which engage with truck drivers, their families, freight managers and routers, and the wider sector and media, obtaining data which are audial, numerical, textual and visual. This research will include the first ever large-scale quantitative survey of UK truck drivers including both current and past workers, offering a unique perspective on the experiences, views and practices of UK truck drivers. This will be coupled with 'deep dive' methods allowing us to learn about truck drivers' experiences in more detail. Mobile ethnographies will allow the drivers to take charge, and show us their working lives, while the workplace ethnography will allow us to understand the inner workings of the freight office, which coordinates truck driving work. We will interact with academic, industry and government stakeholders throughout the project. Both Academic and Industry Advisory Groups have already been established, and have supported the design of the research proposal. These two groups will support the execution and impact arising from the research. A number of events and activities will be used to engage with a wider range of stakeholders, this includes: Webinars and workshops, industry magazine publications, social media engagement, non-academic reports, policy briefs, academic journal articles, and conference sessions and presentations.