Wheels of Change: Digitalization in the German Trucking Industry and Its Impact on Workers’ Structural Power

The digitalization of the trucking industry in Germany offers a compelling case study for understanding how technology can undermine workers' structural power, even in the face of a severe labor shortage. Despite an estimated shortfall of 100,000 truck drivers in Germany, their bargaining power is paradoxically weakening. This raises important questions about how digital technologies are reshaping labor relations.

Historically, truck drivers have held a crucial role in supply chains. Positioned at critical choke points, their practical and tacit skills have given them high degrees of autonomy as well as marketplace and workplace bargaining power. In this presentation, we argue that digitalization—through tools like telematics, wearables, and driver-assistance systems—is eroding the need for skilled labor in the trucking industry. Tasks that once required years of experience, such as intuitive driving, route navigation, and mechanical troubleshooting, are increasingly standardized or automated. As a result, logistics companies are now able to recruit semi-skilled and unskilled workers from a global reserve army.

Drawing on over 60 interviews with truck drivers, management, and logistics experts, as well as ethnographic workplace observations, we provide concrete empirical evidence of how the implementation of digital technologies is reshaping skill requirements in the trucking industry. By lowering the bar for entry into the job, digitalization weakens the structural power that truck drivers once held.

Our analysis sheds light on the broader implications of technological deskilling in industries where workers have historically enjoyed strong bargaining positions. As digitalization continues to disrupt traditional labor relations, the trucking industry serves as a key example of how worker autonomy and structural power can be undermined, even in the face of labor shortages.