Retooling militancy: Labour revitalization and fixed‐duration strikes

Abstract

Despite decades of decline in strike rates, recent scholarship has examined how unions and labour organizations are retooling the strike to confront increasing employer power. This study focuses on a militant labour union and the emergence of an understudied type of strike – the fixed‐duration strike – as a source of labour revitalization. Drawing from qualitative data gathered on fixed‐duration strikes organized by a union of registered nurses in the United States, I investigate the strategic adaptation of labour militancy and how these strikes overcome the limitations of traditional, indefinite work stoppages. I find that fixed‐duration strikes protect the economic interests of nurses and advance their role as patient care advocates, while still imposing financial and reputational costs on employers. These findings suggest that the strategic adaptation of militant tactics, such as the strike, help labour organizations achieve revitalization outcomes like contract victories and enhanced membership activism.

An Overview of US Workers’ Current Organizing Efforts and Collective Actions

“…For instance, bargaining for the common good (McCartin and Sneiderman, 2019; Givan and Lang, 2020) is a strategy some teachers unions are using to engage parents and community citizens by expanding worker demands to address community needs related to high-quality public education; in recent years, this approach has been used in teacher strikes in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, West Virginia, and Kentucky (McCartin et al, 2020). Other groups use short strikes to raise attention to worker concerns rather than continuing to strike until a negotiated agreement is reached (Rhomberg, 2018;Kallas, 2023). As Figure 8 shows, workers are also using strikes to advance a diverse range of demands, including pay, racial justice, and workplace safety.…”

Strikes, patient outcomes, and the cost of failing to act

“…If strikes were effective (ie, resolved quickly with staff demands met), that evidence would add to the case for strike action. However, little evidence exists on whether healthcare worker strikes improve patient care, and there are no systematic data on the number of strikes that result in demands being met in full or partially 33. Still, there are several examples of healthcare worker strikes that have secured important gains.…”

Lopsided inclusion: The impact of multi‐employer bargaining and class‐based unionism on non‐regular employment in South Korea

“…For instance, unions with a working‐class orientation more often engage their membership in militant and confrontational tactics (e.g. strikes or protests) and act in a solidaristic way (Darlington, 2009; Jódar et al., 2011; Kallas, 2022; Kelly, 1998; Regalia, 2012; Rojot, 2014). Constructing a class‐based identity can sometimes help unions overcome weak institutional power to extend protections to more precarious groups of workers (Gasparri, Ikeler & Fullin, 2019).…”

“…National union confederations with a working‐class identity can prevent their affiliates from pursuing particularistic interests so that they can represent the broader interests of the working class (Gordon, 2015; Oliver, 2011). They can also set bargaining guidelines (Stepan‐Norris & Zeitlin, 1995) or sometimes exert bureaucratic power or ‘centralized pressure’ (Kallas, 2022; Voss & Sherman, 2000) over their affiliates (e.g. a policy mandate).…”