• cristo@lemmy.world
        131·
        7 days ago

        The reality for most people is that they can’t afford a strike. Rent, food, gas are all blockers. Criticizing those who can’t strike and aren’t scabs will only hurt your movement and cause people to just not want to help.

        • lime!@feddit.nu
          45·
          7 days ago

          then join a union! they can supplement your pay when on strike.

          • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
            91·
            7 days ago

            I’m in a union (SEIU) and they are definitely not going to supplement my pay. Also- I do caregiving. I don’t know how it works to strike when my client would die if no one showed up. Work without clocking in? That seems counter productive…

            • lime!@feddit.nu
              4·
              7 days ago

              medical fields usually have some sort of clause that prevents complete strike, like the postal service. you can still strike but in that case it’s without union authorisation.

              here the metalworker’s union is paying striking workers at tesla 125% of their regular salary and have the funds to continue doing that for about 200 years.

              • stickly@lemmy.world
                5·
                7 days ago

                Because most places in the USA have atrocious worker protection laws. Even if you’re in a name brand, corporate job with thousands of people on board with unionizing, they can close your office or fire everyone with no repercussions.

                Just look at Blizzard, Google, Starbucks, etc… They take a chainsaw to any union talk and have never been bothered with consequences. If you’re employed by a tiny, family owned business you have even less leverage. Your personal relationship to the owner is much more important to achieving your goals than paperwork solidarity with the 2 other employees.

                • lime!@feddit.nu
                  1·
                  7 days ago

                  but i mean… the entire reason unions work is because of a mandate from the masses. if they close an office the only reasonable counter-action is for every other office to unionise too.

                • lime!@feddit.nu
                  11·
                  7 days ago

                  from what i hear there are unions everywhere in the us. why are they not doing anything?

          • cristo@lemmy.world
            2·
            7 days ago

            It’s not that simple unfortunately. Sure there are national unions, but they’re very specific in the industries they operate it. They are long standing institutions with the influence and funding to boot, your local tenant union or random coffee shop “union” does not have the resources or influence to make any of that happen. I knew some people in FL who tried to unionize their coffee shop they worked for and the owners just straight up shut the business down instead of capitulating, they were all out of a job after that.

              • cristo@lemmy.world
                1·
                6 days ago

                I guess I’m more nihilistic in my viewpoint. I’ve only seen small unions fail whether through inaction, ineptitude, or busting. In non multimillion dollar industries, they basically are impossible to form successfully. That shouldn’t mean forming them shouldn’t be attempted, it’s just the reality that I observed.

      • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 days ago

        The reality for most people is if we went on strike we would be the only one at our job to do it and we would be reprimanded or fired.

        We all live paycheck to paycheck and if we miss a day of work then we don’t get paid and we can’t pay our bills and we die.