US union members are having their right to strike threatened by the Supreme Court this week. They’re trying to make us pay money for accidental “damages” to the companies we strike against. Never mind that withholding our labor is the only response to employers that have screwed us. This could open the gates to more lawsuits against union members from companies. This conservative Supreme Court also disallowed union organizers from talking to farm workers during off-work hours- the reason being that the farm owners got to control what kind of speech was had on their land.
In the UK, there is a bill proposed to force certain public sector employees back to work even during strikes. If they don’t comply, they can be fired. Rightwing members of Parliament claims that this is helping the public remain safe – essential services are forced to continue functioning. Labour members and RMT leader argues that this violates workers’ basic human rights, and is also utterly stupid since it leads to more workers being shed in essential industries.
UK link
I have two major thoughts on this.
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The law alone is not going to protect us. It is a tool. The 1935 Wagner act provided labor protections for only about 40 years before Reagan and other neolibs weakened it (and every other public institution). Even under a strong Wagner act though, the police have always been strike breakers. So, workers should get used to the idea that they they are not our friends.
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Recent directions in US and UK labor law have made it so clear that law protects capital. Essential businesses have to function at the expense of human rights – see the recent railway decision and the California decision that decided speech (even speech after work hours) is not free on company land. Look at company policies that dictate you aren’t allowed to talk about organizing, which are only rarely challenged in court. The law sometimes, barely, serves us, but right now it mostly does not.
Therefore, all workers should learn some basic labor law, but be comfortable with breaking rules and unjust laws. We should oppose overpolicing, since the police protect the bosses’ interests. We should learn how to organize with our coworkers – across all lines of difference, since organizing is in our best interest.
And if strikes are made illegal, we must be prepared to mass strike. Getting out and opposing injustice en masse is the only thing that has ever worked.