Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T09:16:54.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Right to Strike: A Radical View

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2018

ALEX GOUREVITCH
ALEX GOUREVITCH*
Affiliation:
Brown University
*
Alex Gourevitch is an Assistant Professor of Political Science, Brown University, 36 Prospect St., Providence, RI, 02912 (Alexander_gourevitch@brown.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Workers face a common dilemma when exercising their right to strike. For the worst-off workers to go on strike with some reasonable chance of success, they must use coercive strike tactics like mass pickets and sit-downs. These tactics violate some basic liberties, such as contract, association, and private property, and the laws that protect those liberties. Which has priority, the right to strike or the basic liberties strikers might violate? The answer depends on why the right to strike is justified. In contrast to liberal and social democratic arguments, on the radical view defended here, the right to strike is a right to resist oppression. This oppression is partly a product of the legal protection of basic economic liberties, which explains why the right to strike has priority over these liberties. The radical view thus best explains why workers may use some coercive, even lawbreaking, strike tactics.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 112 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 905 - 917
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I would like to thank the following people for very helpful individual conversations about this essay: Samuel Arnold, Joshua Braver, Candice Delmas, Leah Downey, David Estlund, Nicholas Frayn, Harrison Frye, Andreas Kalyvas, Karl Klare, Jeffrey Lenowitz, Frank Lovett, Chris Muller, Suresh Naidu, Jeppe von Platz, Peter Ramsay, Corey Robin, Julie Rose, Lucas Stanczyk, and Carla Yumatle. I am also grateful to political theory workshop participants at the following colleges and universities: University of Virginia, Princeton University, MIT, Brown, New School, University of Chicago (Human Rights Workshop), Stanford, Tufts, Dartmouth (Workshop on Economic Justice), Washington University, Columbia University (September Group), University of Pennsylvania, McGill University (Left Political Theory). I would also like to thank the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study for generously supporting a year of leave during which I was able to write and revise this article.

References

REFERENCES

American Civil Liberties Union. 2017. “ Privacy in America: Workplace Drug Testing.” Accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.aclu.org/workplace-drug-testing.Google Scholar
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2015. “Equality and Freedom in the Workplace: Recovering Republican Insights.” Social Philosophy and Policy 31 (2): 48–69.Google Scholar
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2017. Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (And Why We Don't Talk About It). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Andrias, Kate. 2016. “The New Labor Law.” The Yale Law Journal 126 (2): 47–70.Google Scholar
Arnold, Sam. 2017. “Capitalism, Class Conflict, and Domination.” Socialism and Democracy 31 (1): 106–124.Google Scholar
Atleson, James. 1983. Values and Assumptions in American Labor Law. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar
Axt, Deborah. 2013. “End Wage Theft: Stop the Billion Dollar Swindle.” Cornell University International Labor Relations School Digital Commons, http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=institutes.Google Scholar
Barth, Erling, Bryson, Alex, Davis, James C, and Freeman, Richard. 2014. “ It's Where You Work: Increases in Earnings Dispersion across Establishments and Individuals in the U.S.” NBER Working Paper No. 20447.Google Scholar
Bennett-Smith, Meredith. 2012. “Indiana AT&T Technicians File Class Action Lawsuit Citing Grim Break Conditions.” Huffington Post, August 14, 2012.Google Scholar
Bertram, Chris, Gourevitch, Alex, and Robin, Corey. 2012. “Let It Bleed: Libertarianism and the Workplace,” Crooked Timber July 1. Accessed June 1, 2018. http://crookedtimber.org/2012/07/01/let-it-bleed-libertarianism-and-the-workplace/Google Scholar
Borman, David. 2017. “Contractualism and the Right to Strike.” Res Publica 23 (1): 81–98.Google Scholar
Bunker, Nick. 2016. “Why It's Time to Rethink Non-Compete Agreements.” Washington Center for Equitable Growth, April 7. Accessed June 1, 2018. http://equitablegrowth.org/why-its-time-to-rethink-non-compete-agreements/Google Scholar
Burns, Joe. 2011. Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. New York: Ig Publishing.Google Scholar
Cohen, G.A. 1988a. “Are Disadvantaged Workers Who Take Hazardous Jobs Forced to Take Hazardous Jobs?” In History, Labour, and Freedom: Themes from Marx, ed. Cohen, G. A.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 239–54.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 1988b. “The Structure of Proletarian Unfreedom.” In History, Labour, and Freedom: Themes from Marx, ed. Cohen, G. A.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 254–85.Google Scholar
Egelko, Bob. 2011. “Employers Must Pay if They Deny Lunch Breaks.” San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2011.Google Scholar
Eisenbray, Ross. 2015. “Wage Theft by Employers is Costing U.S. Workers Billions of Dollars a Year.” Economic Policy Institute. February 13. Accessed at: http://www.epi.org/blog/wage-theft-by-employers-is-costing-u-s-workers-billions-of-dollars-a-year/.Google Scholar
Emerson, Ramona. 2011. “13 Controversial Facebook Firings: Palace Guards, Doctors, Teachers and More.” Huffington Post, October 17, 2011.Google Scholar
Ezorsky, Gertrude. 2007. Freedom in the Workplace. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Garrison, Jessica, Bensinger, Ken, and Singer-Vine, Jeremy. 2015. “The New American Slavery: Invited to the US, Foreign Workers Find a Nightmare.” BuzzFeednews, July 24, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2018. http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/the-new-american-slavery-invited-to-the-us-foreign-workers-f#.nmJN7Yg27Google Scholar
Gernigon, Bernard, Odero, Alberto, and Guido, Horacio. 1998. International Labour Organization Principles Concerning the Right to Strike. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2015. “Police Work: The Centrality of Labor Repression in American Political History.” Perspectives on Politics 73 (3): 762–73.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2016a. “Chronicle of a Strike,” Jacobin, May 18. Accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/verizon-strike-fios-cwa-union-replacements/Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2016b. “From Strike to Shop Floor,” Jacobin, June 6. Accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/06/verizon-strike-wireless-contract-union-cwa-ibew/Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2016c. “Quitting Work but Not the Job: Liberty and the Right to Strike.” Perspectives on Politics 14 (2): 307–23.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph. “Worker Subordination in Sweden” (unpublished manuscript). Accessed June 1, 2018.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2009. The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. A. 2011. The Constitution of Liberty: The Definitive Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Henwood, Doug. 2005. After the New Economy. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander. 2015. Who Owns Your Politics? The Emergence of Employee Mobilization as a Source of Corporate Political Influence. Washington DC: New America Foundation.Google Scholar
Hess, Amanda. 2013. “How Sexy Should a Worker Be? The Plight of the Babe in the American Workplace.” Slate Magazine, July 29, 2013.Google Scholar
Hsieh, Nien-He. 2005. “Rawlsian Justice and Workplace Republicanism.” Social Theory and Practice 31 (1): 115–142.Google Scholar
Hsu, Tiffany. 2011. “Amazon Warehouse Employees Overheated Ahead of Holiday Season.” Los Angeles Times. September 19, 2011.Google Scholar
Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk. 2014. 574 U.S.Google Scholar
JOMO. 2013. “Caring on Stolen Time.” Dissent, Accessed June 1, 2018. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/caring-on-stolen-time-a-nursing-home-diaryGoogle Scholar
Judson, Tim, and Francisco-McGuire, Cristina. 2012. “Where Theft Is Legal: Mapping Wage Theft in 50 States.” Progressive States Network, http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2013A/commsumm.nsf/b4a3962433b52fa787256e5f00670a71/e9b1f269d522a83b87257b3a006a03c8/$FILE/130326%20AttachE.pdfGoogle Scholar
Lambert, Josiah. 2005. “If The Workers Took a Notion”: The Right to Strike and American Political Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Leader, Sheldon. 1992. Freedom of Association: A Study in Labor Law and Political Theory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Little, Lyneka. 2013. “AT&T Workers Claim Lunch Break Violations.” ABC News, August 15, 2013.Google Scholar
Lyons, David. 1998. “Moral Judgment, Historical Reality, and Civil Disobedience.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 27 (1): 31–49.Google Scholar
Malmberg, Jonas, and Johannson, Caroline. 2014. “The Right to Strike: Sweden.” In The Right to Strike: A Comparative View, ed. Waas, Bernd. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer International Law, 525–36.Google Scholar
Maltby, Lewis. 2009. Can They Do That? Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1909. Principles of Political Economy. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Accessed June 1, 2018. http://www.econlib.org/library/Mill/mlP.htmlGoogle Scholar
Mishel, Lawrence, and Davis, Alyssa. 2015. “Top CEOs Make 300 Times More than Typical Workers.” Economic Policy Institute Report, June 21, 2015. http://www.epi.org/publication/top-ceos-make-300-times-more-than-workers-pay-growth-surpasses-market-gains-and-the-rest-of-the-0-1-percent/Google Scholar
Mohun, Simon. 2014. “Unproductive Labor in the U.S. Economy 1964–2010.” Review of Radical Political Economics 46 (3): 355–79.Google Scholar
National Employment Law Project. 2013. “Winning Wage Justice: A Summary of Research on Wage and Hour Violations in the United States.” http://www.nelp.org/content/uploads/2015/03/WinningWageJusticeSummaryofResearchonWageTheft.pdfGoogle Scholar
National Labor Relations Act. 1935. 29 U.S. Code 102. Accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.nlrb.gov/resources/national-labor-relations-actGoogle Scholar
O'Neill, Martin, and Williamson, Thad. 2012. Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond. London: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Oxfam Research Report. 2015. Lives On the Line: The Human Cost of Cheap Chicken. Boston: Oxfam America Inc.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pope, James Gray. 2004. “How American Workers Lost the Right to Strike, and Other Tales.” Michigan Law Review 103: 518–53.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice (revised ed.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rose, Julie. 2016. Free Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rosioru, Felicia. 2013. “The Changing Concept of Subordination.” In Recent Developments in a Labour Law, ed. Kiss, Gy. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 150–85.Google Scholar
Saez, Emanuel, and Zucman, Gabriel. 2014. “Wealth Inequality in the United States Since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data.” NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper 20625.Google Scholar
Shelby, Tommie. 2016. Dark Ghettoes: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shenfield, Arthur. 1986. What Right to Strike? London: The Institute of Economic Affairs.Google Scholar
Song, Jae, & Price, David J., Guvenen, Fatih, Bloom, Nicholas, and von Wachter, Till. 2015. “Firming Up Inequality.” NBER Working Paper No. 21199.Google Scholar
Stanczyk, Lucas. “The Shared Burdens of Social Cooperation.” In From Each: A Theory of Productive Justice (unpublished book manuscript), Chap. 2. Accessed June 1, 2018.Google Scholar
Stanczyk, Lucas. “Marginal Liberalism” (unpublished manuscript). Accessed June 1, 2018.Google Scholar
Stanczyk, Lucas. 2012. “Productive Justice.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 40 (2): 144–64.Google Scholar
Storey, John. 2014. Managerial Prerogative and the Question of Control. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Strauss, Eric M. 2013. “Iowa Woman Fired for Being Attractive: Looks Back and Moves On.” ABC News, August 2 2013.Google Scholar
Urbina, Ian. 2013. “As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester.” New York Times, March 30.Google Scholar
Vega, Tanzina. 2012. “In Ads, the Workers Rise Up. . . and Go to Lunch.” New York Times, July 7, 2012.Google Scholar
Velasco, J. D. “Fired Gay Water Polo Coach and Supporters Protest at Charter Oak Board Meeting.” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, October 7, 2011.Google Scholar
Weeks, Kathi. 2011. The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
White, Ahmed. 2010. “The Depression Era Sit-Down Strikes and the Limits of Liberal Labor Law.” Seton Hall Law Review 40 (1): 1–81.Google Scholar
White, Ahmed. 2011. “Industrial Terrorism and the Unmaking of New Deal Labor Law.” Nevada Law Journal 11: 561–628.Google Scholar
White, Ahmed. 2014. “Workers Disarmed: The Campaign Against Mass Picketing and the Dilemma of Liberal Labor Rights.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Review 49: 59–123.Google Scholar
Wolff, Edward N. 2012. “The Asset Price Meltdown and the Wealth of the Middle Class,” Accessed June 1, 2018. http://appam.confex.com/data/extendedabstract/appam/2012/Paper_2134_extendedabstract_151_0.pdf.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.