![]() ![]() Strikes tend to be undertaken by unionized workers who are protected by law, but the tactic can be used by nonunionized labor too. Workers create value for their bosses, and without workers, companies can’t be productive. A strike is a work stoppage tactic used to pressure management to fulfill certain demands. While the form a general strike would take is very much up for debate, the concept has been around for a long time. The proposition of a general strike raises a lot of questions, but here’s a primer on what work has gone into the concept so far. Companies and the government have been reluctant to provide meaningful support for workers in the form of paid sick leave, hazard pay, and other protections.īut while labor organizing is well underway in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, the demands and parameters of a general strike remain undefined, the hashtag still more of a rallying cry than a statement of purpose. The Times reported on Thursday that 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the most to ever do so in a one-week period. Businesses across the country are closing and downsizing, which means people are being laid off in droves, many losing their employer-sponsored health insurance in the process. The possibility of a general strike seems more real than it ever has in America as labor conditions have become more dire than they’ve ever been in recent memory. ![]() ![]() Writer and activist Naomi Klein tweeted that she was joining #GeneralStrike2020, and activist Bree Newsome Bass said that she supports “a general strike for all these workers who are deemed ‘essential’ but still aren’t earning livable wages while working in unsafe conditions.” This week, as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly spread across the country and the president suggested that people should soon start returning to work in a desperate bid to stabilize the economy, the hashtag #GeneralStrike - calling on workers everywhere to walk off the job - began trending on Twitter. ![]()
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