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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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chapotraphouse
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No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
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Very common in the US. You can still strike, but it's restricted to after your contract expires. This makes the contract periods restricted to legalistic enforcement of said contract, recruiting, and training.
Some unions can avoid the no-strike provision, but they have top be strong: high engagement, large membership, good leverage, militant leadership. American unions are usually weak and driven by a collaborationist, bureaucratic leadership. It takes a lot of work to run a proper union and the larger unions have figured out that you get a higher return on investment by raking in dues and then going through the motions with little staff or effort. Many will not even accept shops that are 100% ready to unionize, all the organizing done, because they think it won't bring in more dues than justifies staff time (really, they are working in a large overhead for the higher-ups).
On the positive side, you can always create a reform movement within your union. Get like-minded folks together, memorize your union bylaws, and begin strategizing about how you're going to (1) take over union leadership and/or (2) use your own power and narrative-creating abilities to force leadership to do what you want. Make your own demands leading up to the next contract fight! Print your own flyers and signs. Talk to friendly media about what you want.
The good union, the IWW, had it's members killed, arrested, and deported. The AFL-CIO was probably the compromise that capitalism was willing to allow.
That's not really correct. The AFL-CIO had significant infighting and the side that won was allowed to exist because they then purged the communists shortly after WW2, and then got Taft-Hartley for their troubles. It was still a good tool and made up of thousands and thousands of communists in the CIO, and beyond them it was still dangerous enough for the government to weaken it substantially.
Also the police literally killed CIO members, look up the Memorial Day Massacre. Let's not call those 10 martyrs "compromise that capitalism was willing to allow" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1H62KeDWZI