How to Go on Strike

Planning Your Strike

Spread the word to other union members. One person cannot lead a successful strike. Instead, you’ll need all unionized members on board. Begin talking about why you think a strike is necessary. Remember not to talk about striking on your employer’s premises or during work hours. Begin by talking to other workers you trust. Has someone complained about your wages, benefits, hours, or working conditions? This is someone who thinks like you and probably will help plan a strike. Keep your discussions as secretive as possible. If management gets wind of the strike, they’ll try to divide the union membership.

Contact your national union. If you’re part of a national union or other overseeing organization, you will need to contact them before you go on strike. The union can give you suggestions and help outline any requirements your strike must meet to have the union’s support.

Read your collective bargaining agreement. If your agreement has a “no strike” provision, then you can’t strike. Your strike is illegal and your employer can fire you. Take out your collective bargaining agreement and read it. If you don’t understand the document, retain a labor lawyer. Contact your local or state bar association for a referral. Your national union also probably has legal counsel who can help you understand your rights.

Strike for a legitimate purpose. Even if you have the right to strike, not all strikes are lawful. For example, you can’t strike to force your company to stop doing business with another company. You also can’t strike to force your employer to do something illegal. You can strike for economic conditions, such as higher pay, better benefits, shorter hours, and better working conditions. You can also strike to protest unfair labor practices. Examples in the U.S. include spying on the union, refusing to bargain with the union, or giving wage increases to employees to keep them from joining the union.

Pay attention to timing. In the U.S., federal law requires that you provide certain notices to your employer to terminate your collective bargaining agreement. You also need to wait a certain amount of time before you can strike. If you don’t wait, then the strike will be illegal unless you are protesting unfair labor conditions. This is a complicated area of law, so talk to your national union or your lawyer. You don’t want to strike at the wrong time, since your employer might be able to fire you as a result.

Identify the consequences of striking. Each country has its own labor laws, so you should understand what can happen to you if you choose to strike. In the U.S., the consequences will depend on whether you are striking for economic reasons or because of unfair labor practices. Economic strikers can’t be fired, but your employer can replace you. At the end of the strike, you are not entitled to be hired back. However, you are entitled to be recalled to jobs when there is an opening. Unfair labor practice strikers are entitled to reinstatement at the end of the strike. They may also be awarded back pay.

Form committees. If you want to go ahead with the strike, you’ll need to form committees. These committees will be in contact with each other, but each will have certain well-defined tasks. Consider forming the following committees: General strike committee. This committee oversees everything and keeps detailed records. Negotiating committee. This committee works directly with management to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Picketing committee. Members of this committee raise public awareness by coordinating legal picketing. Publicity committee. This committee works directly with the news media and other public officials to spread the word about what you are fighting for. If you have a small workplace, you might combine the picketing and publicity committees. Financial committee. This group will help members support themselves without a paycheck.

Handling the Financial Fallout

Build a strike fund. Without any wages, your striking employees might soon lose enthusiasm for the strike. Cushion the blow—and maintain union solidarity—by building a strike fund as soon as possible. You should set aside a portion of your dues to build up the strike fund. You might also need to request additional payment above and beyond the regular dues to build the fund.

Create a budget. A strike costs money, and you need some general idea of your expenses before you pull the trigger and strike. Consider the costs of the following: food, health care, and transportation assistance to strikers legal expenses printing expenses publicity, such as maintaining a website

Coordinate with food banks. Some workers might have trouble buying food for their families. Help them out by contacting food banks. Also consider creating your own food bank. Ask other employees to contribute food to the bank, and invite strikers in need to help themselves.

Arrange health care. Without health insurance, strikers and their families might be denied the medical care they need. Contact doctors and health clinics. Ask strikers if anyone knows of a doctor who might be sympathetic to your cause and send sick strikers to them.

Create a form letter for renters. Strikers might not be able to make their rent payments. Coordinate with a legal aid clinic to draft a template employees can use. The letter should explain the strike and ask if the landlord can give their tenants a break during the strike. If your strike fund is large enough, you can help renters by paying their rent.

Pay for bus fare and other transportation. If a strike lasts longer than a couple weeks, you should pay for bus far and other transportation costs. You want the strikers to show up at the picket line.

Negotiating with Management

Create a clear list of demands. As workers talk with each other, you should come up with a list of things you want changed in your workplace. Write up a list of demands to present to your boss. One demand should be that anyone who agrees to strike won’t be penalized later. Also ask that all employee insurance premiums and medical bills be reimbursed at the end of the strike.

Set a deadline. Your boss might welcome your demands but then never implement them. For this reason, you need to set a hard deadline. Give your boss a couple weeks to agree to your demands but then be prepared to strike if they aren’t met.

Negotiate as much as possible before striking. Always negotiate in good faith. There’s no reason to strike if you can avoid it, and your employer might be willing to meet some or all of your demands. Your negotiation committee should take the lead. You might not be great at negotiating. A good negotiator should be patient, smart, and focused on details. They shouldn’t be easily ruffled or intimidated. Talk to your national union, who might have negotiators who will come down and help you. Alternately, you might need to hire your own professional negotiator. Talk to your lawyer or contact a nearby law school for help.

Communicate with your strikers. You can expect management to spread false rumors to create divisions in your ranks. For example, they might lie that the negotiation committee is being completely unreasonable. Keep your strikers in the loop about what is going on by using email and bulletins to communicate. Your union can also use social media to update employees.

Handle any injunctions that are thrown at you. Your employer might try to force you back to work by getting an injunction. An injunction is a court order to stop doing something, in this case a strike. Typically, your employer will claim the strike is illegal. Rely on your legal team to fight the injunction. Work closely to document that your strike is legal and peaceful.

Negotiate until you reach an agreement. Depending on your situation, this could take a day, weeks, or even months. You must also know that there is a possibility that your efforts will not work. Increase the pressure on your employer by picketing and waging a media campaign.

Picketing Successfully

Divide into teams. Very few people can picket 12 hours a day, so you should set up several teams to picket for a certain amount of time. Name a captain for each team. This person will be responsible for making sure strikers get to the picket line on time. Your captains should be your most responsible union members. Ideally, picket teams should be more than two or three people. Try to aim for a dozen or more, if possible.

Choose your locations. Picketing is a great way to increase visibility. If possible, picket on the sidewalk or at locations that are visible to the road. You should also picket at the entrance and exits to the property. However, you cannot block entrances. If you do, then your strike is illegal.

Create vivid signs. Signs should be easy to read from a distance and memorable. Text-based signs with limited colors work best. Remember you are creating a message, not a work of art. Bold black lettering on a white or yellow background stands out. Choose your materials wisely. For example, you should use foam-core board, since it is lightweight but also rigid. For a handle, use hollow cardboard tubing since many cities won’t allow sticks.

Maintain order. An unruly picket line can damage your union’s cause in the public’s eye. Keep drugs and alcohol out of the picket line. Team captains should send unruly picketers home until they can get control of themselves. Strikers cannot threaten non-striking employees, management, or management representatives.

Keep your strikers motivated. Your strike might start enthusiastically, but workers can soon become demoralized as weeks pass without work or a new paycheck. Try to keep spirits high on and off the picket line. Consider the following: Bring in speakers. Your national union might send someone down to give a speech. You can also ask local university faculty to speak about the importance of labor strikes. Let people take breaks to recharge. Maybe a few days off the picket line will reinvigorate them. Come up with fun chants. These will build solidarity on the picket line. Offer mental health services. You might be able to find a sympathetic therapist who will agree to meet with strikers to help them work through their problems.

Videotape your picketing. Sometimes, management will claim that your picketing is threatening other people or causing general violence. Often, they can get a court order blocking the strike on these flimsy grounds. Because of this, document your picket line by having at least one person videotape it.

Invite the press. Your publicity committee should reach out to local and regional newspapers and TV stations. Distribute a press release describing the strike. With luck, you’ll increase your strike’s visibility and put pressure on your employer to give in to your demands. Have your most articulate union members as spokespeople. They should be well-versed in what you are demanding of management.

Winning the Public Relations Battle

Portray strikers as ordinary people. Some members of the public think unionized workers are fat cats who loaf around and enjoy luxury benefits. Counter this perception by emphasizing how the union members are just ordinary hard-working citizens. It might be effective for workers to talk about their families and children when explaining why they are striking. For example, you can really humanize a strike by saying something like the following: “Our health care benefits are terrible. My daughter had a heart defect, and our insurance only picked up 10% of the costs of her treatment. I work too hard for such skimpy benefits.”

Couch your demands as reasonable. Unionized workers generally make more than non-unionized workers, and for this reason some people might not be sympathetic to your demands for more money or benefits. Nevertheless, you can counter by always pointing out how much money your employer has made. For example, you can say, “All we’re asking for is a 4% raise, at a time when the company’s profits grew 25% last year and their stock value increased 30%.”

Emphasize any government handouts your employer received. Many companies receive tax credits or other assistance to open or expand a business. Always points this fact out. Taxpayers will be angry, especially if the company is trying to move their location. For example, you can say, “We’re trying to keep this plant here, in this state. Do you know they received over $40 million from the city and state when they opened 10 years ago? And now they want to move the plant halfway across the world? It’s unbelievable.”

Express pride in your work. You don’t want to come across as lazy or envious of your employer. Instead, emphasize that you love your job and are anxious to get back to it once your employer agrees to your reasonable demands. For example, you might say something like the following: “I love working as a nurse. Love it. And I can’t wait to get back to my patients once the hospital wraps up these negotiations.”

Engage in a good work strikes. This is a type of strike where workers provide their services to the public for free. It’s most successful in service industries, where employees work directly with the public. For example, striking taxi drivers can give people rides for free. A good work strike can quickly build public support. There are definite legal risks to this type of strike, especially if you use your employer’s property. Consult with a lawyer first.

Use social media effectively. You can get your message out most effectively when you control the medium. Create a website and keep the public updated about the state of negotiations. Include pictures and personal stories from striking employees on the website. Create a Facebook page and create a Twitter account. Your strikers can also use these sites to stay updated on the latest information. Make sure only one person is in charge of these accounts and approves all content posted. You don’t want any striker to post their thoughts.