Would you cross a picket line?

[Bob]

Wondering what the view here is with regards to strikes. Do yall support strikes under any circumstances, or are there situations in which youd side against strikers?

[FinnMacCool]

I'm sure there are situations where one might not go on strike for whatever reason but I think 96% of the time, I support strikes.

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

Yeah strikes are cool.

However, it cant hurt to send a couple of influential workers into work to get the scabs on the picket.

thats a good reason to cross it.

[bayano]

but that isnt scabbing- since it would be with the consent of the strikers. for me, i generally see anyone who crosses as a scab and therefore an enemy, but there are exceptions. if i was in venezuela when right wing unions were organizing middle class workers to strike, i would have crossed most likely, and there have been strike/pickets that were principally about racism. but if it was a real class struggle by workers, anyone who crosses is a scab and a fink

[LSD]

I think it really depends on the nature of the "strike".

Obviously I would stand by any proletarian action, but not all "work actions" are proletarian in nature; and occasionaly, strike-breaking is actually in the interest of the working class.

The breaking and ultimate defeat of the Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike, for instance, is one of the greatest achievements in Canadian history. If I had been a doctor, I would have gladly sided against my "comrades" and gone to work.

As, indeed, my grandfather did! :)

[LoneRed]

lets put it this way, id rather cross the mexico-US border on foot, in late July than i would cross a picket

[Cloud]

I would never cross a picket. If the workers demand a change, then the workers deserve a change

[bezdomni]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 06:54 PM
I would never cross a picket. If the workers demand a change, then the workers deserve a change
What if the change they were demanding was an "all white" workplace?

I'd only cross the line if the strike was over something reactionary or stupid...which isn't the case so much these days.

[Lord Testicles]

Id never cross the picket line, unless it was in the interest of the proletarian or the strike was over something reactionary.

[Roses in the Hospital]

Comming from a coal-mining background, I'd find it incredibly difficuilt to cross a picket line, though I'm reluctant to say I never would, as it's impossible to know what circumstances you could potentially find yourself in...

[The Grey Blur]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 07:31 PM
Id never cross the picket line, unless the strike was over something reactionary.
Exactly

There was once a large strike here in the north of Ireland wherein Loyalists shut down their workplaces and intimidated Catholic workers for sectarian political reasons - this is an obvious example of a reactionary strike

[RevMARKSman]

It depends on what the strike is about and on what a picket line is.

[YKTMX]

No.

[kurt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 03:54 PM
No.
So you would have no problem with the hypothetical strike-action of white-workers protecting their workplace from "people of colour"?

[Body Count]

Under specific circumstances I'd do a lot worst to strikers then cross the picket line.....

[Nicky Scarfo]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 12:10 PM
I think it really depends on the nature of the "strike".

Obviously I would stand by any proletarian action, but not all "work actions" are proletarian in nature; and occasionaly, strike-breaking is actually in the interest of the working class.

The breaking and ultimate defeat of the Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike, for instance, is one of the greatest achievements in Canadian history. If I had been a doctor, I would have gladly sided against my "comrades" and gone to work.

As, indeed, my grandfather did! :)
Could you post something more about that strike? Sounds interesting.

For the record I do not believe doctors or the other professional classes should be organized into unions. Nor should cops. Unions are power for the powerless. Those groups have enough power as it is.

Although I understand the "exceptions" people are putting forward, in 7 years of union activism, I've yet to encounter such a situation. In this country, at least, they are very rare. So I'd say as a general rule, I'd rather have a bullet in the back of my head than cross a line.

[LSD]

Could you post something more about that strike? Sounds interesting.

The Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007155)

CBC Coverage, part 1 (http://archives.cbc.ca/500f.asp?id=1-73-90-460)
CBC Coverage, part 2 (http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-73-90-9596/politics_economy/medicare/)

[RebelDog]

Read this and tell me this is not a picket line worth croosing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4132623.stm

Not all stikes are good ones.




If the actions are real strikes like we know and love then it is the ultimate betrayal of your class to cross a real picket line. I detest scabs.

[bayano]

but i think we are in agreement that if the strike was progressive or revolutionary, we wouldnt cross it, and i usually join pickets i didnt previously know about if i have time