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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/59378754
The calls for a nationwide (US) shutdown this Friday (Jan 30) are growing louder
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
1182 points (98.3% liked)
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General strikes are illegal in the US. The people coordinating them could be arrested. Also, jobs can fire workers on the spot for participating in them, even if the workers are part of a union and the union want to participate. There are no protections for this. Not to mention, national guards have been sent in to shut down general strikes in the past. There's a reason they never happen. The likelihood of one ever succeeding is highly unlikely considering the current situation. Doing it multiple days? You realize most people live paycheck to paycheck? Nobody wants to tell their kids they're going to be homeless.
It's not illegal to strike on a date with other people. It's illegal for unions to call for a "general strike" because it's considered them calling a strike on behalf of other non-union employees for other businesses.
Not always, (though yes, it would probably be likely for many people) since they can use things like sick/vacation days conveniently timed right, or if they're backed up by a union, they might have a contract that helps to prevent at-will firing without certain specific causes, excluding striking.
However, if enough people strike, it's kind of hard to enforce coming into work via firings, as it's similar to if an entire unionized company goes on strike. What are you gonna do? Fire every single worker and shut down for good the next day because the only person running every single operation is the remaining CEO?
As long as the union doesn't say "this is a general strike" and just says "we are striking on this date for better working conditions", and that date happens to be the same day other unions are striking, it's legal. There is no law preventing different unions from striking on the same dates, and it would take very long for any legal process to try and make that claim before the strike has already occurred.
This is the most likely outcome in my opinion. However, it's still kind of hard to actually enforce the end of a general strike. It's one thing to arrest someone, or to stop them from doing a given thing, but it's another to forcibly remove people from their homes and make them work no matter their condition or reason.
Essentially, I'm saying it'd be messy.
This is the biggest hurdle, though there is a degree to which it can be mitigated, at least for a little while. For example, there are a lot of people with backyard and community gardens, small businesses with stockpiles that are willing to support their community as we've seen with the current situation in Minnesota, not to mention that if the situation got bad enough you'd probably just see people stealing from their nearest billionaire-owned store because fuck it, why not screw them over more?
To clarify, I'm not like, disputing your actual overarching thesis here, or saying a general strike is easy or likely to succeed, I'm just saying it's not entirely impossible :)
American workers live in such a different world. Not once in my 34 years on earth would it have occurred to me to go on sick leave or spend one of my holidays on strike. Absolutely insane.
By all means, people should try. Not saying people shouldn't. The mountain to overcome fascism isn't going to get any smaller as we dive deeper into it. And a strike wouldn't even have to happen in every area or even every state. It just has to happen enough to shut stuff down across the US. I just worry that most things tend to start out small and grow with time. For all of the reasons I stated, this can't start out small. It has to start loud and strong. If it starts out small, it will get crushed in a way that scares people away from trying again.
People have to realize the alternative is having their kids growing up in a fascist regime, where they can be murdered on the streets without consequences simply because some "regime official" is having a bad day.
I am not saying it's easy but it also won't get any more easier when people don't act now. In the end stage people trying to resist the regime will be insta killed or worse. Now you can still talk to like minded people and organize. Tell them you want to strike but are afraid of the consequences, maybe they will offer help.
This is fucked up beyond belief. Strikes should be a right for every single worker
Apparently this just applies to unions and federal workers, though. At least as it was written in the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947. But yeah, the fact that it's illegal for unions to call for general strikes is indeed fucked up beyond belief. Unions are an essential part of organizing strikes.
Yes, that's why it takes months to organize a normal strike, let alone a general strike. A one day strike isn't a stike, it's a protest.
The difficult thing is people need to organize it outside of work. If management gets wind of that kind of stuff, they can fire and replace any workers they know are participating long before it actually happens.
That's highly illegal if we're going by the NLRA.
Now whether those companies get a wrist slap for firing people in today's political climate? That's a different question entirely but firing someone for striking or organizing a strike has been illegal for almost a century.
In a right to work state, they don't need to give a reason. Any rules against firings are pretty much unenforceable, and the company is considered innocent unless proven guilty.
Right to work laws make it so workers in a union shop don't need to join the union.
Are you thinking of at-will employment? It's a common mixup.
While that's true, every state except for Montana has at-will employment. Despite that, unions often negotiate contract requirements that effectively guarantee job security. But if you live in a right to work state, chances are there isn't even an option to join a union at your job, giving you no means of collective bargaining.
Doing a quick search...looks like about half the states are "right to work" ones.
And...well, I don't live in a 'right to work' state, but I couldn't join a union either way. There aren't many unions in my line of work.
They don't need to give a reason but if a company fires someone who is organizing a strike and that person has been a decent employee then the labor board is going to side with the person, not the company since it's obvious why they were fired. Amazon keeps getting in trouble for this exact thing. Which is why amazon et al are trying to get the NLRB dismantled.
Going homeless at the same time as many others opens the possibility to make communities helping each other out (food, protection, communication).
I know, it is wishful thinking, but building such communities in a peaceful way during a general strike with enough time is better than a sudden brutal civil war scenario, I think.
You won’t get food easy if you have to fear getting shot as soon as you leave your house and they can’t run companies efficiently only with AI and MAGA workers.