Variable-compensation systems are increasingly common in the trucking industry. This paper examines the growing use of variable compensation for grocery truckers and highlights the links between the replacement of standard hourly pay, the industry's adoption of supply-chain management, and the outsourcing of the logistics func tion. A case study of "activity-based compensation" for grocery truckers illustrates how such alternative pay systems impact earn ings, hours worked, and working conditions. From this we de velop a set of recommendations to show how unions can better monitor and regulate these pay systems.
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