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Comment by lidHanteyk | Hacker News Reader

There's also the viciousness with which strikes are broken in the USA. We are no longer in the era of Pinkertons [0], exactly, but Reagan still fired the air traffic controllers [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_(detective_agency)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Contr...

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Striking by government employees was made illegal with good reason. If you're willing to strike you must be willing to do so under the real risk of being fired. It's a scorched earth tactic entirely equivalent to your employer withholding your pay without you having broken the contract.

Don't you have the concept of legal and illegal strikes? In most European countries striking is alive and well, but not for willy-nilly reasons. There exist a specific framework for strikes.

Right, the strike mentioned by the post above mine was illegal. But additionally striking is ultimately a negotiation tactic. Scheduled legal strikes are like demonstrations in which workers make a show of their bargaining power to the employer, but prolonged strikes which cause massive losses of revenue for the business are a scorched earth negotiation tactic and those engaging it should expect a proportionate response.

I mean, you will probably have to FORCE the employer to do something, so yeah, surprise - people do actual strikes that hurt the employers' profits,and that's the only reason anything gets done. "Scheduled legal strikes that are like demonstrations of bargaining power" only hold their meaning if you are ready to follow with a real strike if not taken seriously. Else, it's just begging the employer to show a kind heart.

Let me fix that for you: If you're willing to strike, you must be willing to do so under the real risk of being murdered [0]. If you're new to this history, the Coal Wars [1] are a good starting point.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_Unite...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Wars

Yeah dude, murder is bad. But Reagan didn't murder the air traffic controllers he fired them, which is hardly "vicious".

As for the coal wars, a lot of those altercations weren't exactly result of union workers simply not showing up to work.

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