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If you and your co-workers think that you are getting paid unfair wages, or feel like your place of employment is treating you poorly, you may want to consider going on strike. Striking is a serious matter that must be approached with the right information and a smart plan. You should also be aware that only employees that are part of a labor union can go on strike. If you are a nonunion employee, there are other ways to negotiate with employers, including concerted activity and forming employee committees.
1
Contact your national union if you are affiliated with one. If you are a part of a national union or another overseeing organization, you will need to contact them before you go on strike. The union will be able to give you suggestions, as well as outlining any requirements your strike might need to meet in order to have the support of the union.
2
Consider the different types of strikes. Various methods of striking exist, all of which have been met with both success and failure. The method you select will be up to your situation’s details.
3
Understand the repercussions of striking. Employers do not have to shutdown the workplace during a strike. In fact, they are legally allowed to hire replacement workers to fill in the spots left vacant by strikers. Before you begin planning your strike, look at what you are striking for. The reason behind your strike can affect whether or not you get to keep your job after the strike it over.
4
Spread the word to other workers. Chances are, there are many other employees as dissatisfied with your employer as you are. Try to get as many people as you can to be involved in your labor movement. Try to approach labor leaders at city and state levels. You may also find community groups and organizations that are sympathetic to your cause.
5
Create a general strike committee. This committee will essentially be running the show--it will form the other committees (listed in the next step), hire an attorney and deal with legal issues if needed, making the major decisions and recording the events and details of the strike, among other responsibilities. In summary, the general strike committee plans, forms, and leads the strike.
6
Assign members to specific task forces. Remember that you do not have to follow these directions exactly--the committees you form should be based on your specific needs. For instance, you might consider combining the publicity and fundraising committees. However you decide to set up your committees, select individuals, or ask for volunteers, that are well-suited to the duties required of each committee.
7
Create a budget. Before a strike, it is important to organize a fund that will help to pay for the costs of a strike. In general, the financial committee will create a budget that will then get approved by the general committee. Remember to include budget factors like:
8
Create a list of demands and set a deadline for when these demands must be met. It is of the utmost importance that everyone agrees on the goal of the strike. You need to make clear what you want the strike to achieve and why you are striking. You must also have a solid argument explaining why you want what you want.
1
Negotiate as much as you can before you strike. Always try to negotiate with your employer before you go on strike. You may find that your employer is more open to finding a way to make both the company and employees happy.[4]
2
Raise public awareness. Pass out flyers and pamphlets letting the other people in your community know what is going on at your place of employment and why you are striking. If the public gets behind your cause, they can apply pressure that may help to twist your employer’s arm, so to speak, into negotiating with you.
3
Keep the workers on strike motivated. Striking can be very difficult--particularly on workers who rely on their wages to support their families and pay their bills. It is important to keep morale up while striking. Come up with some impassioned chants, bring in strike speakers to give speeches to both strikers and the public, and take care of your own--compassion for the other strikers goes a long way towards creating a truly strong camaraderie.
4
Document your strike area and keep it peaceful. Employers can claim that strikers are getting violent or blocking entrances to the business. These claims can lead to strikers being forced back to work. To combat these claims, make sure that your strike is peaceful, orderly and safe. Take videos and pictures of your strike, showing that you are not blocking any entrances and that your group is orderly but passionate.[5]
5
Handle any injunctions that are thrown at you. As stated in the previous step, employers can force strikers to go back to work if they get an injunction against the strike. An injunction is an order that requires a defendant to refrain from doing something. In the case of a strike, an injunction could be taken against the striking workers, ordering them to refrain from refusing to go to work.[6]
6
Negotiate until you can agree upon an acceptable conclusion. 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. If you don’t succeed during this strike, and you still feel that your place of employment is not treating you fairly, organize another strike.
ON STRIKE - - VS - - MANAGEMENT ACTION
Strikes
Employees have the right to strike, but not all strikes are legal.
A strike is a work stoppage caused by employees’ refusal to work, typically to protest an employer decision (to close a plant, freeze wages, cut benefits, impose unpopular work rules, or refuse to improve working conditions, for example).. Whether a strike is lawful depends on the purpose of the strike, whether the collective bargaining agreement includes a “no-strike” clause, and the conduct of the strikers.
Lawful Purposes
A strike is legal –if the employees are striking for economic reasons or to protest an unfair labor practice by the employer. In the first scenario, strikers are trying to get some economic concession from the employer, like higher wages, increased benefits, or better working conditions. In the second, workers strike because the employer has engaged in some practice that violates, like refusing to bargain with the union or discriminating against union members.
No-Strike Clauses
Even strikes with a legal purpose If the union’s contract with the employer (the collective bargaining agreement) includes a no-strike clause. With a few limited exceptions (for example, if employees are refusing to work because of unusually dangerous working conditions), a strike that violates a no-strike provision is illegal.
Strike Misconduct
A strike can also become unlawful if strikers engage in serious misconduct, such as violence or threats, physically preventing other from entering or leaving the workplace, or sit-down strikes, in which employees refuse to leave the workplace and refuse to work.
Employer Responses
Employers are legally allowed to hire replacement workers during the strike. Once the strike ends, the employer’s obligation to bring back striking workers depends on the reasons for the strike:
Employees who strike for economic reasons have lesser reinstatement rights. Although they cannot be fired, they can be replaced. If the employer has hired permanent replacements, economic strikers aren’t entitled to immediate reinstatement. Instead, they are entitled to be called back for job openings as they occur.