Tag: general strikes

General Strike for Democracy

By Erik Loomis

In General

On October 30, 2020

Several local labor councils are starting to plan for a general strike if Rochester-Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation, which is the local AFL-CIO labor council, and has spread across the nation over the last week. We saw the impact of Sara Nelson’s call for a general strike to end the government shutdown. It was tremendously […]

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This Day in Labor History: June 25, 1919

By Erik Loomis

On June 25, 2019

On June 25, 1919, the strike committee leading the Winnipeg General Strike called off the strike, effective the next morning. Perhaps the most famous strike in Canadian history and unquestionably the

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General Strikes and the Shutdown

By Erik Loomis

On January 25, 2019

With Sara Nelson, head of the flight attendants union, calling earlier this week for a general strike to end the shutdown, I have a piece in The Atlantic discussing the history of general strikes in t

Could Worker Activism End the Government Shutdown?

By Erik Loomis

In General

On January 23, 2019

Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson is calling for a general strike of airline workers to shut down the industry until the government reopens. Our calling is now. There is a humanitarian crisis unfolding right now for our 800,000 federal sector sisters and brothers who are either locked out of work or forced to […]

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This Day in Labor History: November 12, 1892

By Erik Loomis

On November 12, 2018

On November 12, 1892, the New Orleans General Strike ended with a major victory for workers. One of the few true general strikes in American history, it demonstrated the potential power of workers, ev

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Strikes Against Trump

By Erik Loomis

On March 4, 2017

As I have stated, I am highly skeptical of (mostly) white radicals calling for a “general strike” against Trump because it feels like a bunch of privileged people asking workers to play th

A General Strike?

By Erik Loomis

In General

On February 6, 2017

There’s been a lot of talk on the left about a general strike in the last 2 weeks. Color me extremely skeptical. It has seemed to me that this is being pushed by people who want to shut shit down and, well, that’s kind of it. I haven’t seen any convincing discussion of tactics or […]