STRIKE
“We stop working.”
2018
West Virginia teachers’ strike
Who
WV teachers and school workers vs West Virginia legislature
Teachers and school staff walk out statewide over pay and insurance until the capitol moves.
Outcome Pay raise and insurance concessions; wave of teacher strikes elsewhere
Lesson Public workers can still stop a system that can’t warehouse kids without them.
2001–2010s
Coalition of Immokalee Workers — Fair Food
Who
Florida tomato pickers (CIW) vs Fast-food and retail giants (Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Walmart…)
Tomato pickers can’t squeeze growers alone, so they pressure the brands that buy the tomatoes until Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and others sign binding Fair Food deals.
Outcome Fair Food Program — penny-per-pound, codes, monitoring with major buyers
Lesson Go after who sets the price — the brands — when growers claim they can’t pay.
Documentary
Food Chains — trailers / clips1973–1974
Harlan County — Brookside miners’ strike
Who
Brookside miners and their families vs Eastover / Duke Power
Kentucky miners vote union; the company refuses. A year of strike, violence, and pickets ends in a contract.
Outcome Contract recognition
Lesson Hold the line long enough for the country to see what the company is doing.
Documentary
Harlan County USA1970
U.S. Postal Service wildcat strike
Who
Letter carriers and clerks vs U.S. federal government
Postal workers walk out illegally. Mail stops. Washington concedes on pay and bargaining.
Outcome Wage gains and a path to a reorganized Postal Service with bargaining
Lesson Even “you can’t strike the government” breaks when the system depends on you.
Documentary
1970 postal strike archival1965–1970
Delano grape strike and boycott
Who
NFWA / UFW (Chávez, Huerta), Filipino farmworkers vs California growers and supermarket buyers
Central Valley pickers strike the fields, then take the fight to supermarket shelves nationwide until growers sign contracts.
Outcome Contracts with major growers
Lesson If labor alone is replaceable, move the fight to the brand’s customers.
Documentary
Fight in the Fields / UFW grape boycott1937
Flint sit-down strike
Who
UAW auto workers vs General Motors
Instead of walking out to a picket line GM could ignore, workers stayed inside the Flint plants and stopped production cold until the company recognized the union.
Outcome GM recognizes the UAW
Lesson Don’t fight where the opponent is strongest. Find the point where it can’t operate without you.
Documentary
The Great Sit-Down1912
Lawrence “Bread and Roses” strike
Who
Immigrant textile workers and IWW organizers vs American Woolen and mill owners
After a pay cut dressed up as a shorter week, tens of thousands of immigrant women and men shut the Lawrence mills. The mills needed their hands; owners needed the story to stay local. It didn’t.
Outcome Wage increases and overtime concessions
Lesson “Cheap labor” isn’t cheap when it stops together — and national shame is a weapon.