It's time for every worker in America to go on strike

[rateyes]

and bring business to a fucking halt. Don't open the schools, don't unload the ships, don't pick up the garbage, don't run the cash registers, don't run the trucks, don't fly the airplanes, don't police the streets.

Shut the fucking country down.

[villager]

1. Yup. Been time for awhile.

n/t

[Ozymanithrax]

2. The last national strike was in 1952...

I think strike has been "consumerized" out of Americans.

[Jack_DeLeon]

3. So what do all the unemployed people do?

[lonestarnot]

22. Get jobs as paid picketers.

[slackmaster]

24. Paid by whom, with what money?

:argh:

[lonestarnot]

26. Here.

:argh: :crazy: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenewamerican.com%2Findex.php%2Fusnews%2Fpolitics%2F4077-labor-unions-hire-picketers&ei=wdZYTLDeOJDEsAP3w-CgCg&usg=AFQjCNFlc3IRwZgQNgM969FK4jerTy815A

[scheming daemons]

4. And the result will be....The unemployed and underemployed will be offered their jobs

...and they're desperate enough to take them.



And absolutely NOTHING good will be accomplished.

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. Well, wouldnt that be good, in a way?

Some other people get new jobs, and some other people get unemployment checks for a while.

[ThomWV]

11. The result would be a Congress that understood who's really in charge

[Steely_Dan]

6. I Fear...

that revolution is now the only way to save our country.

[WinkyDink]

9. Except: nobody agrees on the purpose. The unemployed gun-nut racist isn't going to be on my side.

[HughBeaumont]

10. There it is.

Both the far left and the far right are anti-Barack Obama. While I support many far left positions, I'm also in belief that we're going to get an alien president before we'll get a progressive one. That doesn't automatically mean I'm going to hate Barack Obama for every single damned thing. At least he's trying. Someone like Bewsh would tell all people not making over $500,000 a year to fuck themselves.

The far right hates the poor, worships Reagan and Bewsh and loves money. The right blame all of their problems on anyone with a (D) in front of their name while excusing corporate and MIC crime, aided and abetted by presidents they elected (or the stacked SCOTUS installed).

The moderates think striking is silly and free-marketz centrism will solve everything, when all that does is get more Republicans and DLC milquetoasts elected.

Only those on the left seem to get it: The true people we should be revolting against is the rich old man cabal that holds us under his boot. Take a few, make an example, send a message that we WILL NOT put up with any more of this legal robbery bullshit.

[WinkyDink]

12. I've always liked Mme. DeFarge, myself.

[dkf]

7. My employer is doing the best he can. If he quits I'm the one screwed.

And he could retire any day because he has the capability to.

[DailyGrind51]

8. So that they can be replaced by cheaper foreign workers? "Business" would jump at the opportunity!

Don't provide them with the excuse they were looking for!

[marmar]

13. Past time.

nt

[Lurks Often]

14. Ummm, I don't think so

If I do that, I lose my job, which means I'll lose my condo and have to file bankruptcy and move back home with one of my parents.

And if that sounds selfish, so be it.

[pipi_k]

19. No, it sounds sensible to me...

Because every action has a consequence.

If your parents are living on a fixed income, then your moving in would place a burden on them to support you, probably overtaxing their resources. Lots of middle aged/elderly parents would be put in the same situation.

So, in addition to screwing over The System, strikers would be hurting innocent people who worked hard all their lives and don't deserve what they'd be getting.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Great idea, especially since there are no unemployed folks who can be hired to replace the strikers

Oh wait ...

[ThomWV]

17. And just which personnel departments will be doing the paperwork?

because way way more than half of the people who have jobs in this country got them through personnel departments, even in the "small" businesses. Add to that the fact that the unemployed are in areas of great concentration and they would have no way to get to available jobs even if there were mechanisms in place to hire them - no gas station attendants, no bus drivers ....

[pipi_k]

18. That's assuming that every single worker decided to strike.

We're talking about how many millions of American workers here?

Shit. There are less than a couple of thousand DUers who post here on a regular basis and even that number can't agree on anything.


There are already some here who have said they would not/could not strike. I wouldn't. Not if I had a family that lived from paycheck to paycheck.

So some people wouldn't strike, and there would be people to man the personnel departments...even if they had to be taken from other jobs within the company to do it.

[Raineyb]

21. Some people do have enough of a conscience NOT to cross a picket line.

I've NEVER crossed one.

[pipi_k]

23. "Conscience" vs desperation

I guess it all depends on what one's personal situation is.


someone with kids and an empty refrigerator and pantry is probably not going to give a rat's ass about taking the job of someone who chose not to do it.

I can just see it...


Dad: "Sorry, kids...stale bread and rancid peanut butter for supper again today, but at least Daddy didn't cross a picket line!"

Kids: "Yay, DADDY!!! You're our HERO!!!!"

[blindpig]

16. Yes, but it's gonna take some doing

There must be a lot of organizing, not just for the action itself, which is itself a massive job, but also in establishing solidarity among the workers and in establishing the means of survival during the shutdown.
The textile strike of 1934 failed for precisely lack of that preparation, support was very broad but very shallow. We must do better.

k&r for a splendid idea.

[pipi_k]

20. So that also means...

doctors and emergency workers and nurses don't show up to work also?

Pregnant women delivering their own babies.

Elderly people depending on electricity to keep their oxygen machines going, not being able to breathe. Old people in nursing homes lying in their own filth in their beds because nobody's there to get them up to the toilet or clean them.

Victims of domestic violence left to fend for themselves because the police are on strike.

Someone's kid falls on his head and is bleeding profusely...needs stitches and medical care but everyone in the hospital is on strike.

Great.

People are gonna be thrilled when they find out their friends and family could have an emergency that would kill them and nobody will be there to help.

[SecularMotion]

25. Strikes & Boycotts

are today's torches and pitchforks.

Hit 'em where it hurts.