-Mother Jones
Speech to striking coal miners
Montgomery, West Virginia
August 4, 1912
“Let me say this to you, that no one person wins a strike, that it takes the combined forces of the oppressed, the robbed class to get together and win a strike. The operators, the money power, never in all of human history have won a strike. You have never lost a strike – that is, the workers have not. You have simply rolled up your banners and retreated for awhile until you could solidify your army and then come back and ask the pirates, ‘What in the hell are you going to do about it?’”
The summer of 2023 is already being hailed, “The Summer of Strikes” as we see the beginning of an anticipated wave of workers walking off the job to demand fair pay, fair working conditions, as well as dignity and respect. We are seeing strike actions take place in industries across the work spectrum, everything from Starbucks workers to Hollywood writers and actors. It’s happening with newly ununionized work places who haven’t yet signed their first contract to unions who have had contracts with an employer for nearly 100 years.
In Appalachia our soil is stained with the blood spilled by striking workers during the early years of the U.S. labor movement. Whether it was company owners like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick hiring Pinkerton Agents and telling them to use any force necessary to break a strike at the Homestead Steel Works, the U.S. Army allowing Coal Mine owners to “borrow” their airplanes to try and break union miners during the Battle of Blair Mountain, or the violent reaction by the Pennsylvania National Guard during the Pittsburgh Railroad Strike, workers had to risk everything to try and secure better working conditions and wages. These sacrifices, though, would not be in vain, as the coming years would see some of the largest gains for the American working class.
-Pete Seeger
“Talking Union” (1941)
Suppose they’re working you so hard it’s just outrageous,
They’re paying you all starvation wages;
You go to the boss, and the boss would yell,
“Before I’d raise your pay I’d see you all in Hell.”
Well, he’s puffing a big see-gar and feeling mighty slick,
He thinks he’s got your union licked.
He looks out the window, and what does he see
But a thousand pickets, and they all agree
He’s a bastard – unfair – slave driver –
Bet he beats his own wife.
Fast forward to 2023. Workers in unions across the country have once again had to make the difficult decision to walk off the job. The strike is the last resort of unions, the action that unions and their members hope to never have to take. To voluntarily walk off the job, to choose to lose pay and risk their financial and health wellbeing (since much of American health coverage is tied to employment) is never an easy decision. But, when push comes to shove, and workers have run out of options, unions members vote to authorize a strike. They still hope that it won’t come to that.
Just this week we saw that in action. On June 16th, Teamster, represented union workers, voted to authorize a strike at UPS if a contract could not be reached by July 31st. They even began to practice picketing at locations throughout the country. Because of these actions, it’s being reported that UPS sweetened their offer to the union in hopes to avoid a strike. The workers won. The point of the strike, or the threat of a strike, is to demonstrate to the company the value of the workers labor by withholding it. What is a company without those who labor?
Sadly, though, workers sometimes still have to walk out, grab their signs and walk the picket line to make their point. And this summer, it looks like that is more often the case. 11,500 Hollywood writers represented by the Writers Guild of America walked off the job after negotiations broke down in May. The conflict, Hollywood studios not wanting to update compensation to reflect the changing landscape of TV and movies and the move to streaming platforms. Soon, in July, they were joined by their 160,000 sisters and brothers represented by SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) as their negotiations also broke down. At stake was similar issues with compensation due to streaming and the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Elsewhere, smaller unions have struck. Various Starbucks location workers have struck, closing down stores for a day at a time, in order to bring awareness and pressure in their demand for a first contract. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued close to 100 complaints against Starbucks for its illegal union busting tactics and its refusal to bargain. In Erie, Pennsylvania 1400 Wabtec workers represented by the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America have also struck fighting for a fair contract and for green jobs. Citing Wabtec’s demands of concession on healthcare as well as low proposals for compensation, workers voted down Wabtec’s proposal in June and walked off the job. A few days ago, Wabtec admitted on their latest earning call that the strike was having an economic impact. Perhaps this will bring them back to the bargaining table with a better offer.
Other strikes that are happening this summer have been going on much longer. Workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, represented by various unions, have been on strike for 9 months. The workers walked off the job when the owners of the Post-Gazette refused to pay for the increase cost of healthcare and instead allowed it to end, leaving workers without access. Workers at the Post-Gazette have not had a new contract since March of 2017. This, despite orders from the NLRB for the Post-Gazette to bargain in good faith and to restore the workers’ health care. The owners are refusing to do both. You can learn how to show solidarity for the striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers here.
So, what can you do?
First, respect a picket line. If at all possible, refuse to do business at places in which workers are on strike. Know that they have made a very difficult decision to take this action and the best thing we can do is honor that by not crossing the picket line. Second, listen to the workers and take the actions that they ask you to. Right now, the Hollywood strikers are asking you not to cancel your streaming services. That may change in the future, and if it does, honor their request. If at all possible, donate to the strike funds that unions have set up to support their striking workers. When you walk off the job to strike, you lose your pay and often times your healthcare. Those strike funds help members continue to put food on the table to feed their families and pay rent so they don’t lose their homes. You can use this interactive map from our friends at the AFL-CIO of where workers are on strike across the country.
Where you can donate:
Workers are in a battle for good pay, good benefits, fair and safe working conditions, and above all else, the dignity that they deserve. The owners of the companies are hoping that the workers will lose faith and come back to work. One executive from Hollywood was quoted as saying, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” A strike only works when workers, through faith and solidarity, the generosity of strangers, and pure willpower stay on the picket line one day longer than the owners can stand.
-Walter Reuther
President of the UAW 1945-1970
Labor is not fighting for a larger slice of the national pie–labor is fighting for a larger pie.
Check out our union tunes: