Comments on: 8 Strikes that Turned Ugly (or Inspired Keanu Reeves Movies)

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:42:16 +0000

I tried to organise a strike when I was a teen working illegal hours at Jamba Juice. They refused to let me work the shifts that didn’t conflict with school, and had me closing the shop at 11pm on school nights…I should’ve sued but its so much trouble, I just won a small settlement and back wages from Target illegally firing employees and I wasn’t ready to do it again. They fired everyone once I convinced my co-workers to strike for me. They lost most of the customers they had at that location once they found out their favorite smoothie-gurus had been fired due to a pseudo-strike. Go figure theres no smoothie maker union, but at least I tried!

By: christine sleight

christine sleight — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:49:28 +0000

Don’t forget “Matewan.” Coal miner strike in West Virginia, with the mine owners’ men shooting workers in 1920.

By: Mark Dearborn

Mark Dearborn — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:15:26 +0000

I helped stop three unionization efforts while I was in the liquor business. My father was in the machinist’s union in Connecticut in the late 50’s, and we had to move to Florida because of it. If they weren’t on strike, they were being laid off, and there wasn’t a steady income. We moved to Florida, where he couldn’t get a decent job for about two years because he was a “UNION MAN”. I grew up hating unions.Union leaders are useless bloodsuckers who rip off the membership, and have an entirely different agenda than the members do.

By: chris radus

chris radus — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:29:44 +0000

One name for you-”Homestead”

By: Eric P

Eric P — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:39:33 +0000

I didn’t go on strike, but I was affected by one. It was the Minneapolis Bus Strike of 1995 and I was attending the U of MN at the time. Because I lived on the busline, it was easy to take the bus to school each morning. I even bought a bus pass. But then they went on strike and I had to drive myself to school. I had to pay for gas and parking which ate up my savings and forced me to get a part-time job to pay for said expenses. It was a domino effect that caused my little world to come crashing down. I got better, but strikes suck, man.

By: norkio

norkio — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:47:01 +0000

There is a time and a place for everything. I find that strikes that put others in peril (such as nurses strikes or police strikes) are inappropriate. I also believe that if you don’t like the conditions you are working in, get another job. Unions seem to think that their agenda is the only important one, and that all others who may be affected by a strike are simply casualties. I’m actually surprised that the two baseball strikes aren’t on the list.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:04:00 +0000

I have a couple of things to say… Dave, if it weren’t for all of those “harassment” tactics that you talk about, you would more than likely be working sixty hour weeks with no chance of overtime.

Other than that, what about the UAW? I grew up in Flint, MI. I come from 4 generations of GM workers, including a great-grandfather that helped organize the Sit Down Strike at Local 659. I don’t think there is any better means of passive resistance than workers sitting down at their machines and rendering them useless to management. It’s not only effective, it is also a statement about which is really useful, the laborer or their tool.

Roll along!

By: Dave Clark

Dave Clark — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Why are we glorifying unions who use intimidation and harassment to achieve their means? They started out as thugs and still are. I was proud to work for the Pinkerton security company and worked a strike line. People who want to work shouldn’t face threat of harm in order to do so.

By: Gordon Daily

Gordon Daily — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:01:00 +0000

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) strike of April 1922 was a bloody one, resulting in the murder of 19 strikebreakers and the deaths of 2 mine workers.

Read up on the “Herrin Massacre” on Wikipedia for more information.

By: reviewstew

reviewstew — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:08:04 +0000

How about the San Francisco general strike on 1934? Some basic info on wikipedia, if you look.