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Effectiveness of organizing national slowdown vs 1 day strikes/economic blackouts (piefed.social)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/50501@piefed.social
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I've been thinking about these 1 day strikes and no shopping days we've been having. The economic blackouts seem to not have much effect, I've seen it compared to a day of bad weather like we recently had with the snow and ice. Likewise, the 1 day strikes aren't achieving an actual loss of revenue that is enough to lead to change. Most Americans can't go on strike long-term as we live paycheck to paycheck, we don't have savings and we don't have mutual aid networks in place. Perhaps doing a nationwide slowdown would be more effective as we would actually be decreasing profits for the rich. It is something that could pick up steam instead of fizzle out. We can combine this with very clear demands instead of a general I don't like this admin vibe

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[–] [S] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

A full strike is definitely more effective, but that doesn't mean that a slowdown strike does not have its place. It has been used historically by the same great grandparents that went on strike as well as more recently. It can be used on its own or as a precursor to a full strike

I don't think that we should discount the idea just because a full strike would be better. A slowdown strike could be organized next week, could expand as ppl learn about it, could be organized without waiting for people to form unions or set up mutual aid. The website you shared talks about earning trust in nonprofits for months to set up mutual aid networks. Setting up a union also takes time. People want to act now. A slowdown strike can also build worker unity

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 child)

    I'm not opposed to a slowdown, it's absolutely a useful tactic, and could be used by those not in a union, I agree.

    But we really, really need at the very least all unionized workers to commit to a general strike. That would be a little under 10% of the population, and a significant amount of them are in critical industries that virtually the entire country and most corporations rely on (Shipping ports, trains, trucking, healthcare, etc). Even if just those committed to a general strike, we could win.

    Everyone else could join a purchasing boycott combined with a slowdown during that same time, but a general strike is the action that will cause the most fear in the corporate elites.

    The website you shared talks about earning trust in nonprofits for months to set up mutual aid networks

    That's if you don't have any existing mutual aid networks (mostly rural areas). But for anyone who has existing mutual aid groups, or a local Food Not Bombs chapter, you can join those and begin making connections immediately.

    Setting up a union also takes time.

    I have been publicly spreading the message to join a union for years at this point, personally. And we do not know exactly when a larger general strike will occur, it may be many months before it does, and in which time everyone who can should be starting to process to unionize by contacting a union now.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 9 months ago

    I agree that forming unions is super important. A slowdown might even indicate which of our coworkers would be willing to unionize. This is important because ppl working for union busting companies don't know who at work they can trust.

    It would be great if there could be coordination with the big unions going on strike while the rest of us do a slowdown. My industry (IT) is not unionized, but if we slowed down it would have a huge economic impact that would actually impact the oligarchs. It would also impede their ability to track immigrants. We could also start a slowdown next week and then the unions could join us.

    I think that the demands we should have are to free every person in ICE/CBP detention and to completely disband ICE and CBP. Freeing the people in detention is one of the reasons I think we should do a slowdown ASAP. Waiting for the unions to schedule a strike means that more people are suffering, being abused/raped & being killed by ICE/CBP

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