Team Hub! – Delivering sustainability to the e-commerce supply chain

ended

The Team Hub! project brings together research institutes and unions from nine EU countries (BE, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, IT, PL) to jointly address features and challenges experienced in the e-commerce supply-chain, mostly concerning storing and delivering activities, by means of an interrelated set of desk research and action research activities. The project’s main objective is to analyse the implications of the boom of e-commerce, especially following COVID-19, and to equip unions with knowledge to propose a sustainable reshaping of business models and work organisation in its supply chain, also ahead of the digital revolution and of environmental goals. In particular, after a desk research meant to review and analyse existing information and data, the project’s core phases entail case studies on business models, union practices and collective bargaining in the e-commerce supply chain, plus a set of national and EU-level events and workshops where workers, unionists, researchers and stakeholders shall discuss: workers’ needs and aspirations, current working conditions and business strategies, possible initiatives by unions and policy makers to shape the future of logistics activities most affected by e-commerce developments. A final phase entails a summary and critical revision of project’s findings to elaborate a final comparative report including policy recommendations. A bold dissemination strategy is conceived in a way both to increase the audience of the project, and to promote active involvement of workers in key initiatives. The project integrates the proposal ‘Team Hub! - VP/2020/004/0133, which was not granted funding under last year’s call for proposals VP/2020/004. While addressing weaknesses identified in the evaluation, the project covers an additional country (France), provides a more detailed methodology and sectoral scope, and entails an overall lower cost.