How Labor Strikes Work

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we'll see you soon, Brooklyn. Welcome to stuff you should know from House to Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuff Bryant, and there's Jerry over there I can hear, and this is Deis. We're working and that means we're not on strike, that's right, strike, strike, Strike. Remember the flint Stones Betty Walma used to wander around shouting strike Why because they

were tired of being no recollection of that. I just remember seeing them like pumping their hands in the air shouting strike. Interesting. So, uh, as a little background if you want to go listen first to our show from how labor unions work. Good one might be a good little precursor to this because they are tied together like ham and cheese. Yeah, because you really can't have a strike without a union, and you can, you can, but you're probably in trouble if you do. For the most part.

I mean, technically, we could all that how stuff works, decided to go on strike and we're not in an union. Yeah, Like we could all walk out and say we want free lunch or we're not podcasting anymore. Free lunch would be great. So technically you could do it, but I don't know about the legalities of stuff like that. Um, well that's the thing, okay, So we could do it, You're absolutely right, but we wouldn't be afforded the same legal protections that strikers who are striking under a labor

union are. That's what that's what's our boss would probably say, let me see if we can work out free lunch. Would be like heyn, we burned a strike on that. Um. It would be a problem if we burned a strike on that because strikes are the they're the last um. They're basically the last resort of any labor union. Yeah, labor union doesn't say, uh, you know, I wish we were paid more, let's go on strike tomorrow. Yeah, I know, it doesn't happen like now. You try to work it

out with your employer. First sit down at the negotiating table. Uh. Well, we're jumping ahead here. Okay, let's get to some history. You want to talk about this, the history of strikes. Yeah, not a lot is known about the very first strike. Um, but they do know that the word was used in

the seventeen hundreds. And it probably means because I kind of wondered what does that mean, it probably means came from like to strike a blow, Yeah, like a punch in the mouth from strike someone from labor to capital. That's right, just saying hey man, you can't push this around. And it was a it's a it's a really important

right to be able the striker. It was for a very long time, because back in the day, if you UM worked in a town in Massachusetts or something like that in the late eighteenth century, there's probably one company in that town, and so therefore that company had what's called the monopsony, meaning that they were the only employer around. So they had a they could decide what they paid you and what were you gonna do. You can't take a horse fifty miles to work every day to the

next town. So UM the to counteract this monopsony of the employer the ability for the workers to get together and say, hey, we are going to not work and you will not have the product that we make for you unless we come to some agreement over these labor conditions and wages and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, that's who they came from. One of one of the first strikes was in when some printers in Philadelphia said, you know what, we want to raise in The company said nope, no,

thank you, We'll pay you just like you're paid. He said, all right, well you know what, we're not going to anything. And it worked. They quit working and they ended up getting their rays right. The owner was like, I haven't expected this outcome. How dare you so? Because it worked. Over the next few decades, other people said the same thing. If we're all in the same profession, let's some band together and say we want to be treated more fairly.

We're making this company a ton of money. They're paying a squat. It's not safe, we're working too long. Oh yeah, little kids are working here. Yeah, child labor is going on. So this is we're powerless as an individual to walk in and say, you know, I want more paid, because they will say you're fired. But if we band together, we actually have some bargaining power, exactly. And that's what that's what a union is. It's an assemblage of workers

who share some sort of commonality. Either they work for the same company. Usually they work in the same trade. So like electrical workers in a company plant, well, all the wong to one union, and the upholsterers will belong to another union, and so on and so forth. Right, so you have a bunch of different unions and in the same plant for working for the same company. Um. But so usually the thing that binds workers in a

union is their trade, right, Um. And when they get together and they say no more, we're not working anymore. Until you guys do something that is power and that's the strike. But again they're supposed to be bargaining that comes before this. Yeah, strikes are a bit of a double edged sword. Uh, your company is going to very quickly cease to make money because things aren't being produced a lot of money, which is a big deal. But you,

as strikers are also not making money. Um. You might have what's called a war chest built up when your union has set aside money in case of a strike, but it's not gonna carry you through a prolonged strike and it's not gonna be your regular paycheck. So a war chest is not going to solve your problem ultimately if if it becomes a battle of wills, both sides are dug in for months and even years. And apparently

so Europe's very well known for strikes. UM, Like, it seems like France was striking like every couple of weeks for a while. They're right, Um, but it turns out

that the US has struck gone on strike how about that? Um, about as often as Europe has from something like I think the eighteen eighties till the nineteen seventies, and um has actually had bloodier strikes and longer strikes, so that the mean number of days of strike lasts in the United States or did between eighteen eighty one and nineteen seventy four, was twenty days. So yeah, if you're like a wage laborer, that's three weeks paid that you're losing

out on. That's the meat. You know. It could go longer than that. Yeah, and that's exactly what is going on in the in the boardroom for the company is there. You know, how long can we wait them out? How long can they wait us out? There's a game of chess sent a lot of ways. Uh. And like you said, it is a last resort. A union can't just call a strike. Um, a union leader or the upper management of the union can't just say we're going on strike. You gotta put it to a vote. And it's not

like like generally it's eight or up. Uh. People have to be behind it, and which is what you want, because if your your labor pool isn't strong and your union isn't strong, then you're gonna lose. Exactly, They're gonna start crossing that picket line. We'll get to all that, of course, but but even beyond that, the union leadership has to be smart enough to say, guys like, we know that eight percent of you are voting fists and

that's the gender neutral guys. Stop your email now. Um, but this is a terrible time to go on strike, Like, we don't have public sympathy. Um, you have big time. The economics are against us. The brand recognition and brand loyalty of the company we work for is through the roof. It's a terrible time to strike. So if that happens and the workers are disaffected enough, um, they might they may say no, we're going on strike anyway without the

blessing of the union. That's what's called a wildcat strike. Yes. And also I think the name of a Blackfoot album? Who's Blackfoot? What are they newish? Are they from the seventies eighties? They were one? They were a Southern rock band. Uh oh Atlanta Rhythm Section. No, I used to love them too, black Yeah, they were I think like either two thirds or three quarters of the band were Native

American and so they were Blackfoot. And the lead singer was in a very early incarnation of Leonard SKINNERD and is now with Leonard Skinnerd again. I see Rickey Medlock Wow. Yeah, I've never heard of Blackfoot. Yeah, I'm sorry for that. Blackfoot guys they were they were a hard rock southern rock band. It sounds like something i'd like. Yeah, go

listen to the Blackfoot. So on good morning, Okay, good morning. Uh. If you want to not strike, one of the first things you might do if you have a disagreement as file a grievance. Uh. And like I said, when it comes time to sit down, hopefully you can both work things out at the old bargaining table. Well, and the bargaining table. This is like, this is a very important point.

Strikes occur almost across the board during contract negotiations. They don't happen during contracts or else you're in a major violation, usually of the contract itself. This is our contracts coming up, and we've been thinking, we really don't want mandatory tonsillectomies. We want that remove from this past contract. And the employer says, no tons electomies for everybody, and then you you have a problem. There's a there's an issue right here,

it's at the bargaining table. It's contract related, and it can conceivably lead to a strike. So there's differ kinds of strikes. Um, there are a few that proceede the full on no one's coming to work strike. Uh, kind of like a warning shot strike, as you can have a sick out or sick in, and that is when you're just sort of saying, here's what could happen. Company owner, factory owner, we're all calling in sick today, and this is what it's gonna be like. Imagine this for days

and days in a row. Yeah, you'd hate it, factory owner. But we're all not feeling well. Yeah, And there's actually some professions that legally give up the right to strike but could still conceivably do this. So, like cops sometimes come down with what's called blue flu, which is a structured sick out among cops, and it's still following the letter because each cop is saying, I'm taking a sick day, which I am legally afforded, but all of them are

taking it at the same time. So it's a problem. Yeah, a lot of times, like, uh, if it's a public service that people really count on, fireman cops, Yeah, they can't take they can't go on strike, but they can't stick out. We can't strike, but we can stick out or we generally is what we've done is in our contract, we've agreed to arbitration as a means to settle disputes. Right, but we can just yeah, blue flu um. There's also a slowdown too, which I mean, this is the most

passive aggressive any think it really is. It's like, oh, let me make sure that that bolt is on again? Where was that bolt? Where was that rich? Where did I put that? Right? It's where um everybody goes to work. But they do their work very slowly, and again they're able to get away with this because they're following the rules. So if you look at the rule book or handbook of an employee at say any kind of manufacturing plant, their job is probably on paper way more detailed and

structured than the actual job they harry out. Is just a practical matter. Right. If they started to do their job strictly by the book, the amount of time it takes them to make a widget would slow down dramatically is compared to win. They cut the corners that they normally cut, and the company is like, yeah, cut those corners because we want to get more widgets out the door. So is that what they're doing during a slowdown is

they're technically following everything to the letter. That's what the Grabster says. This is a Grabster joint. Joint, by the way, that's right, the great Grabanowski. Yeah, the Grabsters suggests that that is the case for a slowdown usually, although you could also just do your job slower. But if you're doing it by the book, when your boss comes on's like what you better speed up? Hey, I'm making sure that we're following all the safety precautions. Uh. And then

finally you can have a sit down. Well, there's a couple more you can have a sit down strike. That is, um, that may be the most aggressive. That's when you actually to go to work and you don't work and you don't leave right Like, you have people bring you food and water, and you're like, I'm gonna sit on my stool so no one else can sit on it and do that job. You're still not your stool. A good point. Yeah,

I think that's the most aggressive. I have hardest core and then an arrow pointing out sit down strike here on my notes right. Uh. And but it also doesn't just um, it's not just the most aggressive. It actually affords some additional protections to the the worker on strike, right, so one nobody else can come in and do that work because they're in the way, are on the stool, um number two. It prevents them from violence in a lot of ways, or it protects them from violence because

they're hanging around very expensive company machinery. It would be pretty stupid to come at somebody like that with a lead pipe because if they duck, you just broke the company's machine. And if that sounds crazy, will we will go in over the myriad examples of violence and strikes and strike busters just disgusting. Yeah. So if you think, what do you mean, no one would come after them violently, Yeah,

it happens. Listen, Pollyanna, just the wait wake up. Uh. So it also keeps the person away from the elements, like you're not out picketing in the rainy weather of Flint, Michigan, right, You're just sitting there and in the nice plant. That's right.

There can be sympathy strikes. That's when you um. That's when you either directly or just um, they decide to call on your brothers and sisters and other unions maybe in the same industry that feel your pain and they know it's good for them ultimately as well, so they will also go on strike to kind of help your cause, right exactly. And um, some some company may call the other company be like, dude, you're they're killing me over here.

Give them those concessions please, or else I'm not going to be able to make dues this month at the billy An Airs Club. Buffy will kill me or um. It might also be sympathy strikes in a Remember I said, in the same plant, you might have an upholsters union, an electricians union, a plumbers union, um at the same company.

Other non affiliated unions may go on strike as well, and that will really put some pressure on that company because they can be like, well, well, we'll catch up with our backlog of um of upholstery work while these guys are striking right. Nope, sorry, we're on strike. Two The company or is just like, oh my god. Well, and we're gonna get into the very infamous nineteen eighties

air traffic controller strike in great detail later. But one of the big reasons, uh it didn't work out is because they failed to get anyone else on board, like the pilots and the flight attendants and baggage chandelers. None of them, uh jumped on board with a sympathy strike, which did not help the air traffic controller. Then you've got a general strike, which is not usually directed at

a company itself. UM, It's more directed at like a government because that means basically everybody who works in a country goes on strike, like we want minimum wage rays for everybody. And that's one reason why it seems like France is always striking. It's because when they go on strike, they go on strike. They typically have general strikes. When they do, I don't want to say typically, but they do undertake general strikes, which is basically unheard of here

in the United States. UM, and it makes big news when it happens for UM. So there's just some time that types of strikes. Yeah, should we take a break, Let's all right, but we're coming back. We're not going on strike. Don't worry, so chuck. UM. We talked about different kinds of strikes. Right. One of the things that you think of when you, uh, when you go on strike, or when you think of strike is people picketing, like you'll very frequently see UM people around Atlanta especially. It

seems like a lot of construction companies have aggrieved employees. Yeah, um, and so the people just be like marching out in front of the uh the like a building that's going up, headquarters maybe, or a construction site, and they'll say like, shame on whoever for employing non union workers or whatever.

Because that's a big, big part of the UM the ability to go on strike is you need to have a solid union, right and one way, especially early on back in the seventeen or no eighteenth and early nineteenth century we're talking about in New England. UM, there was this idea that if you were not a part of the union, the union members would be like, I'm not working if that person is working here, like you have to fire that person. So if you didn't join a union,

you had a hard time finding jobs. And so if you're a union, one of your big tactics is you need to make sure your membership is almost complete across the company or else you're not going to be able to put real pressure on that company if half the workers can still show up to work because they're not union members, so they are not going on strike. Good point. Picketing is one of the main reasons you picket is to draw. Like we mentioned earlier, get the public on

your side. It's a big part of it. And and also to embarrass the company. Yeah, and this probably says a lot about who I am. But whenever I see that, I always think in my head, well, there's some employees that are clearly getting screwed by the man. What do they have to say? Which is exactly what they want? That's why they're out there with the picket signs or

sometimes they're chanting something or singing a song. Uh, and what they do they sing songs like you know, songs about the picket they're not they're singing Stairway to Heaven or like the Freddy Krueger nursery rhyme? What's that one? Yeah, they should do that picket line. Ever, when two strikers coming for you, uh, if you cross the picket line, you literally have to. That's why they stand out in front of the factory or the HQ. You have to

walk through them and literally crossed the picket line. To be what's known as a scab. And you can be a you can be part of that union and decided to go back to work, or you can be just an outside person who says I actually need work. And I'm not in your union. I'm so, I'm just gonna I don't know you guys, sorry, ladies, pardon me. I'm a scab. Or you might be a professional from another part of the country that the owner basically has shipped in to replace you, which we'll get into all the

legalities of that later. But crossing a picket line is not a shining moment for anybody who's doing it. No, um, And where does the word scab come from? My friend? Apparently it has to do with, um, how people used to shun people with infectious diseases. The The sentiment was that if you crossed the picket line, you would be treated in the exact same way as if you had

the plague. Everybody's gonna keep you over there, no one's gonna talk to You're not gonna be able to find a job, You're going to be cast out of society. You're you're yes, so you're it was shortened to scab, Which is I mean like that that amount of pressure is tremendous. Yeah, And um, picketing doesn't always mean you're on strike. A lot of times it's another warning shot. It's called informational picketing. When you sort of threatened and say, hey,

you know we're out here picketing. You know, this does not look for you know, And that's that's the key thing. Like if you go on strike, you want the public to know you're on strike, because the public is like, why you're on strike? What's the problem? I want to know about that? UM. And it's gotten some some groups have gotten a lot better at UM at manipulating the media, using social media to get the message across, like the Fight for fifteen where they they're trying to raise the

minimum wage fifteen dollars. They've been putting a tremendous amount

of pressure on McDonald's. They've got a study released that found that UM like just a ridiculous percentage of fast food workers, especially at McDonald's but in other other at other fast food restaurants in the US, two are reliant on UM welfare on public assistance, and that the way the study framed it and the way that the news reports framed it was that McDonald's was basically using your text payer dollars to supplement the meager income they were

paying these people, rather than actually pay their employees a living wage. They were just being like you handle it taxpayers, We're not going to pay them that much. And it worked big time, like it made all the news cycles. That really changed a lot of people's perspectives. And it went hand in hand with a strike in general strike, well not a general strike, but a strike that was um carried out I think in April of last year across the world, and it really put a lot of

pressure on McDonald's. Didn't do anything, but it's still put a lot of pressure on McDonald's and and I think ultimately probably will lead to uh a change in the minimum voyage. Yeah, that's all. That's a tricky subject. Have we talked about that. No, we should do one on that because I'm a champion of the people. I think people should make a living wage too. But you know, my wife as a small business owner, and it would put her out of business. So like when you hear McDonald's,

you think huge corporation, they can afford it. But what about when you're a small business has eight employees and your your cost of what do you call it cost of business? Not like cost of business, but your wages go up. No, it's a very tough thing to say. Across the board, everyone has to do this. But so like with Obamacare, and if anybody knows what some solutions are to that, we'd love to hear it because this this fascinates me as well, and it it feels very important.

Um but it seems like with Obamacare, Uh, there was a concession made where employers with X number of employees are less weren't mandated to provide healthcare to their employees. Yea, so maybe it would be like that revenue is less than a certain threshold or whatever. Then small business can

be a lot of things like you should. There's no reason that um, mama and McDonald's should be in the same basket of considerations for just about anything that has to do with wages or taxes or anything like that, you know. And it's just so disingenuous to be like, well, you know what about small business. It's like, well, let the small businesses speak. You can't point to these guys

like that doesn't matter to you, international conglomerate. Yeah. Plus McDonald's that just raised the price on everything on their menu by one penny and it probably covers it. I think I've heard a stat like that. I don't think it's just a penny, but it's something very meager like that, but good one. But as we'll learn as well, it really is. As we'll learn though UM in this this episode.

The history of strikes and of UM labor laws and the treatment of employees and UM the government like backing employers has has been a history of like huge, massive radical acts and then like that changed everything, and then that that that side one and then the other side like bides its time and then bam they strike or they carry out some crazy action and like it changes everything. The history has been like kind of seesawed like that. Yeah,

and it's pretty fascinating. Maybe that provides balance in some way, you know overall. I guess, uh, should we talk about sports strikes? Yeah? Uh. They often are get way more attention than other kinds of strikes because there's so much money and people in the United States love their sports

value sports over say electricians, you know, of course they do. Uh. The NFL, the Football League, UM, went on strike over free agency, which if you don't know anything about football, that means after your your first contract is up, that means you are a free agent and you can say I want to go sign with any other team in the league. Yeah, I don't understand that. What what were the like that makes total sense? Like, how would that even be a term? Well? Free agency? What are what

were the teams wanting the owners? They wanted if you for you to have the rights to control that player for as long as you wanted that player. Oh god, Um, all the sports leagues are so different and how they handle things too, it's really interesting. Um, and I know not many. We don't have a ton of sports fans because historically our sports UH done poorly. But we'll go over this real quick. They struck in strike in uh in the middle of a seat and not in the middle,

but at the beginning of the players walked. After two games into the eight seven season and uh for three games, the NFL said, you know what, We're gonna bring in scab replacement players. Yeah, and it was a disaster with the cigarettes. Yeah. I mean people some college players, some players and other like the Canadian League. Uh, some dudes that were just like, hey, I used to play football,

Like we're literally out there out of shape. I mean some ESPN is a great article that season, how like you know, the quarterbacks run the huddle of being like we just want to be in the huddle as long as possible that nobody can catch their breath because there you know, this guy was a fat corporate cat that he wanted to be an offensive lineman scab Blair because he played in college. So it was a disaster. UM. They paid him about four grand a game, and um

the quality play was terrible, as you would expect. UH. Some high profile profile players ended up crossing UH and being scabs, like Joe Montana, Tony Dorsett, Lawrence Taylor, Steve Largent and it was a big deal. Um And eventually they returned to work uh and without any resolution, which happens a lot of times. Thanks to Joe Montana baseball

and nineteen they've gone on strike a lot. UM. In nine four though, the MLB Players Association said they said, we don't want a salary cap on our team, which if you don't know what that means, that means a team can only spend so much money on its players. Players hate that because they want as much money as possible. Owners love it because they're like, oh, what am I

gonna do with all this extra money? Exactly? UH And in UH in August, sort of late in the season, they actually canceled the rest of the season in the World Series. Yeah stunk because the Braves were that was in the middle of their big run and they oh, yeah, that's right, you know, like we lost an opportunity to lose another World Series. We won that one though, right, yeah one. So Um. Apparently this contract dispute was still going on into spring training, and some players went and

reported to spring training despite the strikes still going on. UM, and those players were banned for life for the Players Union, I don't think for life, which means that even after retirement, they weren't eligible for any royalties that you get from like your number being licensed or being on like um MLB or what retirement edition. Yeah. Um, but I mean you can, you know, make some checks depending on how great a player you were and how big your legend

was for many years after you retire. But if you cross the picket lines and went to spring training, Nope,

you're out. I don't think I knew that Hockey National Hockey League historically has only had one official strike, but they have been locked out, which we'll get to lockouts shortly, but they've been locked out a couple of times, and um, the entire uh two thousand four season was canceled the whole thing, and UM hockey in Major League Baseball had a much more difficult time recovering from there canceled season and canceled worst World Series than the NFL. Uh from

their scab issue. I got a scab issue. And in two thousand twelve the referees NFL referees were locked out. Remember that they had replacement referees that were just terrible. Oh yeah, that's right, they were. They actually I think must have won that concession for the regular referees because it was that that got so much bad press. Everybody was so mad, they were making so many bad calls. I totally forgot about that, like high school referees out

there from NFL games. Yeah. Uh, should we take a break, I think so. Man, All right, we'll talk about strike busting and more right after this. No, so checkers. Um, if you were an employer and your employees go on strike, you don't just go, oh, fiddle sticks. I guess I'll give them what they want. There are um plenty of other things you can do, some legal, some sub legal,

and some in between. Right, Um. And one of the first things that employers did when they were faced with strikes early on was higher armed mercenaries to basically beat up and threatened and harass the striking workers. Yeah, notably the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They did a lot of detective work, but they were also notable for being strike breakers. And some of the things they do are legit, like uh, guarding scabs as they go to work so they're not harassed,

or protecting the building itself. So it's not you know, they're not throwing bricks through the windows, but there's also you know, they're getting beaten up sometimes and intimidated. Well, not just that, they also may serve as agent provocateurs. Apparently the Haymarket riot of Costead in Chicago, it was set off by a bomb, and they think that Pinkerton detective undercover set that bomb off to like stir this protest into an angry, violent mob. So they didn't do

anything for money. Yeah, and apparently I was reading that um Pinkerton was hired to investigate the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccati Park. Still at it, Yeah, and so Pinkerton for they deserve their own podcast episode for sure. But very early on they were hired as basically armed thugs. Like you said, they did do protective services, but they also did a lot of violent and illegal stuff as

well on the behalf of these factory owners. And there was one in particular where the um the factory owners. It was Andrew Carnegie actually in Homestead, Pennsylvania. There's a steel mill there, and at the steel mill and I think four the workers went on strike. So Carnegie brought in some Hungarian and Slava steel workers to replace them, and in Hungarian and Slavic steel workers want on strike themselves,

and more workers were brought into replace them. And both times Pinkerton detectives were there to escort the scabs across the picket line, even when those scabs they escorted turned into the striking workers themselves. But it's kind of like one of those things where it's like, uh, maybe the couple second time, it might be you right now with the scabs you brought in go on strike. Two, maybe we should pay them a little more. That's not what happened.

There was like a basically what's called the Battle of Homestead, and it was a battle between the Pinkerton detectives and these striking workers. And in this case, actually the Pinkerton's suffered massive losses and casualties. They were beaten by the town's folk in Homestead UM. Three of them died, and it actually turned public opinion against the strikers in this case. But it also taught Pinkerton that, like, it's probably not good business to like send our boys off to die UM.

So they actually stopped providing strike breaking services over time, and it it morphed and evolved into more um set arranging for spies to attend union meetings and things like that. They're still strike busting going on, it's just not as overt and physically violent, a little more surreptitious and sneaky. And then remember we said wake up Pollyanna earlier. That's

a good example of it. Another good example is um the Great strike of eighteen seventy seven, which started in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and actually spread very quickly to towns like Baltimore and St. Louis, and it made its way to to Pittsburgh, which was another which was so the Homestead one was just a few years earlier. In eighteen seventy seven, there was another strike and a bunch of townspeople were

out supporting the strikers and the UM. I think the State National Guard came in and opened fire on the supporters of the strikers and killed twenty people, including a woman in three small children. So, like, strikes have gotten very bloody, especially early on, and the fact that people were dying over these labor disputes really kind of shaped public sentiment towards violence during strikes, and um it helps

straighten things up a lot more, I think over time agreed. UM. Well, I know we covered it in the Union's podcast, but we should talk a little bit about the Wagner Act and Taft Hartley because they play very heavily into strikes. The Wagner Act a k a. The National Labor Relations Act is it was what officially said you have a right, among other things, you have a right to strike, you can form unions, you can go on strike. And it's

specifically he says you have a right to strike. Yeah, you are legally allowed to do so if you you know, And they didn't specify like what kind of votes like it was that was all up to the union, right, but it said you are allowed to settle labor disputes by striking. That's right explicitly that is right. And then the Supreme Court came along and said, no, let's let's

weaken that a little bit. Yeah. N Supreme Court said, um, you know what, you can't fire people for joining union or going and strike, But what you can do is permanently replaced them with another worker. Uh. And if you want to know the difference, there isn't much. Technically, if you are a replaced permanently replaced, you can go back to that job. If the person who replaced you quits or retires, are aspired, and that position becomes available again,

you have the right to go back to that position. Yeah, and get your job. That could be twenty years from now or never. Ye, like Framer with the bagel strike, remember, yeah, and so it is legal to permanently replace somebody. And and when it comes down to a strike, this um weapon in the employer's arsenal is as good as being able to fire striking workers in a lot of cases. Yeah. Absolutely,

So that was a big one. And a lot of people, especially pro labor people, um point to this and say what the heck Supreme Court like their Congress explicitly passed an act that says, well, vertally, you have a right to strike. There's nowhere in American law that says employers have a right to replace their striking workers, and yet the Supreme Court has aired on the side of employers rights. Well, I think what the Supreme Court said was, sure, you can go on strike, but we we're not gonna say

you can go on strike with no repercussions. Um taft. Hartley Amendment came around in n and did a few things. That a stab what's the National Labor Review Board, which is a body that hears grievances on strikes and unions, Uh, supposedly impartial to that. Yeah. After that, all of the like, um, all the lawsuits are cases that have to do with strikes,

are all somebody versus the nlr B. Oh yeah, good point. Uh. And the other thing it did was, um it did weekend unions somewhat by saying you can't have a secondary boycott, which is when you strike against another related business uh in that industry. Uh that's original like that's targeted by the original strike. Uh. You can't have a closed shop, which is where you have to join a union as

terms of your employment immediately. Yeah, like right away. But they did allow for what's known as a union shop, which means you have to join a union within the first within a time period thirty days of higher although most states now have taken into their own hands in some cases not most, but to uh to be a right to work state, which Georgia is, which means the union shop is irrelevant, right. I wonder how many right to work states there are? Actually, I meant to look

that up. I don't know Georgia. It's so that's such a um. It's such a cynical way to put it. A right to work, like it's the workers right to not join a union. Like that's not a pro um employer law, you know. Um, so chuck. Another another tool in the employers um toolbox. I guess yeah, that that makes sense is the lockout, and it's apparently being used more and more these days. Um. The lockout is like

the reverse strike. It's where the employer says you can't come to work, even if you want to, even if you want to stop striking. And there's rules and regulations surrounding lockouts as well. Um. The Supreme Court or Taft Hartley, one of the two, said uh uh, you can as an employer lock your employees out once a contract is expired,

so you can't do it during the contract. But if you're an employer and you're saying, I really really really want to shove my terms down your throat, you have to accept them, and the union saying no, we're not going to accept that, you can sit there and negotiate and negotiate and negotiate, and then once that contract expires during negotiations, you can say you're locked out, you can't

come to work. And the Supreme Court also ruled that you are, as an employer, allowed to temporarily replace those workers that you've locked out. Right, so l very much so, right, So you're allowed to replace them and continue on with your business as usual. And then if you're you remember you're faced with three options. One you can go find work at another company. Two, you can accept the terms, and then three what's becoming an increasing tactic is you

can vote to dissolve the union. Right that, even when you come back and say, okay, well accept your terrible contract, the employer can go you know what, I changed my mind. I actually don't want this union in my company any longer. So I'll tell you what. If you guys vote to dissolve your union. UM, then we will UH will go

with this contract and the lockout will be over. That happened very famously in Minnesota in August of two thousand eleven, the American Crystal Sugar Company found that they their employers, I'm sorry, employees found that they were locked out, and UH it went on. It's one of the longest labor disruptions, like major labor disruptions we've had, went on for twenty

two months. DRED employees were locked out. By the time it was all over, only four hundred of those original hundred came back those almost two years later, and it took UH. Basically Crystal Sugar kept saying this is our only offer, this is our only offer, every time they went back to negotiate, this is our final offer. So it took five votes over the course of almost two years UM until they eventually relented and UM accepted that

same offer like they never changed the offer. UH. And supposedly there was the CEO Dave Berg was caught on audio tape at a shareholder conference saying basically admitting that they were trying to bust the union and comparing the union to a tumor that had to be removed. Yeah, he said, we have to treat the disease, and that's what we're doing here. And then in three months into the lockout, he told shareholders, we mapped this out a long time ago at some point that tumors got to

come out, and that's what we're doing. And it worked. Yeah, it did, so then we should probably we should end with the Reagan Air Traffic Controller strike. Man, I remember this so in that air traffic controllers went on strike because they felt that the f a A didn't value their work enough, that their work week was too long, that their pay was too low, and that they're working conditions led to unsafe conditions for travelers, all legit stuff.

When all of them um thousand of the seventeen thousand, five hundred and at the time they were the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization pat CO. So um. We talked earlier about how a good labor union leadership will say, even though you guys want to go on strike, this is a terrible time to do it. Well. Pat CO

did not do that. They went on strike at a time when the economy was not doing that well, when Reagan had about a percent approval he'd just been shot and recovered, so it came back like a total hero and um, he was riding high and felt pretty emboldened. Actually. And the reason why the union went on strike anyway was because they had supported Reagan. He had gotten their support through negotiations and they didn't view him as somebody

who was an enemy. They've mishandled and misjudged this in many, many, many ways. But supposedly there's a n law that says, if you're a government agency, your your union can't go on strike. The thing was in practicality and actuality. There had been something like twenty two strikes over the last few decades of government um unions, and it was just kind of like an unsaid thing. Well, Reagan said, no, this is illegal, and you guys are you're If you

don't return to work in forty eight hours, you're all fired. Um, I'm going to arrest your union leaders for carrying out an illegal uh strike. Yeah, I'm gonna arrest some of the controllers themselves. Right, I'm gonna freeze the assets of the union, and then I'm gonna get the union de certified. And he did all these things. Yeah, I'm gonna put the FBI is getting involved. If you're a striker, you're gonna be on their list. Uh. And this was this all came down to two money. Really it was UM

what they were after would have increased. UH had a price tech of about seven seventy million. UH. The f A A countered with a forty million dollar counter offer, a little bit of a pay hike, UM, a shorter work week, and pat Co said, now so when they went on strike, UM, six thousand flights UH were immediately canceled.

And I think they just underestimated how hardcore UH the f A and Reagan we're gonna be coming back at them because they had a fan Immediately they said, you know what, we're gonna have fift these flights back and running very soon because your supervisors are gonna go to work. We're gonna rush through matriculation and training school and military air traffic control and then bring in these military folks

to come in and uh, we don't need you. And I think within a few weeks UM, they had nearly of the scheduled flights going, like prioritizing the the most like trafficked routes and what they considered high priority routes, which is a terrible irony because that is almost exactly what the air traffic controllers were looking for, was stretched out work is rather that they felt was safer, and

that's what that's what Reagan got it to with the replacements. Well, yeah, and it ended up costing them, I think, twice as much money as it would have cost them if they had just agreed to those terms. A lot of people point to that the fact that they they the f A ended up changing to what the strikers wanted and spending twice as much as what they would have just conceding to it as Reagan changing, um, the the flow between employer and employees, and he did dramatically after that.

It became much more difficult to strike. And I think it's it's struck fear into the hearts of workers throughout the country, Like, oh man, the president himself feels this way about striking like that, clearly he's gonna back up the employers in any kind of strike. And it changed things for sure. Yeah. And I mean not only did he say you're all fired, he said none of you can ever work for the government again. Um. And then Bill Clinton came along and reversed that and said, you

guys can get a job again if you want. He said, well half of us are dead. Yeah. Well that was twelve years later when that happened, so that's a good point. But eventually they the newly hired air traffic controllers, formed a new union, uh NATKA National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and um, I think Robert Poley from pat CO said, you know, ultimately, I think we sort of won because it ended up costing them more and we got the changes. But they all there were no winners really because they

lost because all those people got fired Capital one. Yeah, and that was a big one. At the time. We talked about getting the public sympathy, they did not have it because air traffic controllers made more than the average person. Uh. And like you said, it was a bad time for the economy and people's flights were getting canceled and they didn't have what do we call the the sympathy strikers, so that they were they I don't think they thought thought it through and they were very much surprised by

Reagan for sure. You're like, he said, what, We're all fired in two days? So, uh, that's strikes. There's a lot more too. There's a crazy history that we haven't even touched on. Um, there's just so much stuff that that's happened as far as strikes go. Um, you should definitely if this flick your boat at all, you should go look up the Flint, Michigan sit in strike of I think nine eight. Yeah, it was pretty amazing what happened. Yeah, and we we might should do a an entire show

in the Homestead strike in battle. Yes, that was a big deal. Yes it is us. Yeah, I think it's full enough for a show. Okay, Well, in the meantime, if you want to know more about strikes, you can type that word in the search bar at how stuff works dot com. And I said search bar. So it's time for listener mail. I'm gonna call this Navy lieutenant

reporting for duty. Hey guys, I'm a lieutenant in the Navy and I've been listening to your show for a few years, started listening a while with station in Japan and have not stopped. You asked about ship name prefixes, UH, specifically U S S, which indeed is United States ship. It should be noted that this specifically refers to warships of the U. S Navy and that. Prefixes for other

ships of the US government are legion. For instance, US C g C United States Coastcard Cutter, U S N S United States Naval Ship, non warship, U S A S United States Armyship, U S A V United States Army Vessel, and many more. Boutique prefixes that are limited UH they're of limited use are no longer in use. UH. Most navies around the world have their own prefix because, like you said, h MS currently is Her Majesty's ship

or her Majesty's submarine. But when the monarch reigning monarch is a man, the king would be His Majesty's ship. Sense and how about these Josh h M C S IS or Her Majesty's Canadian Ship or h M a S Australian ship or h M n z S His Majesty's New Zealand ship. UH. Civilian ships vessels can have prefixes as well, according to their construction and propulsion, such as S S I never knew that like S S MINO sailing ship, wow or steamship or screw steamer. Yeah,

which is the dirtiest of all ships. UH M V or M slash V for motor vessel. And then my personal favorite that is Chris speaking n S for nuclear ship. The number of them is staggering, guys, very respectfully, Chris, lieutenant in the U. S. Navy. Well, holy Chris, thanks a lot for that. UM and uh. If you want to get in touch with us like Chris and shine some light on some stuff we didn't really know about, we love that. So you can tweek to us at s y ESCP podcast. You can join us on Facebook

dot com, slash stuff you Should Know. You can send us an email to you stuff podcast at how stuff Works dot com and has always joined us at our home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com For more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff Works dot com