{"id":20955,"date":"2018-03-04T01:28:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T09:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=20955"},"modified":"2018-03-04T18:06:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T02:06:54","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-two-three-many-wildcats-then-general-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-two-three-many-wildcats-then-general-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Two! Three! Many Wildcats! Then General Strike!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Only Illegal Strike is a Strike that Fails.<\/h1>\n

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WV Teachers STRIKE Fund<\/h1>\n

\u00a0West Virginia teachers and school service personnel are on strike. The people who help our kids everyday need our help now.<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/wv-teachers-strike-fund<\/h1>\n

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West Virginia Teachers Didn\u2019t Want to Strike. Now They Won\u2019t Stop<\/span><\/h1>\n

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A week ago, thousands of public school teachers in West Virginia went out on strike, a rare but familiar union-organized action to protest low wages and rising health-care costs. Tuesday night, state union leaders and the Governor Jim Justice reached a deal, and the teachers were expected to be back at work on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0They didn\u2019t go.<\/div>\n
\u00a0Unsatisfied with the resolution, they stayed on the picket line, mounting one of the country\u2019s biggest unauthorized \u201cwildcat\u201d strikes in decades. \u201cI think that teachers had just finally had enough,\u201d said striking English teacher Erica Rodeheaver.<\/div>\n

As uncommon as work stoppages have become in the U.S., big wildcat strikes like West Virginia\u2019s are almost unheard of. It arrives at a moment when organized labor, already in steep decline, is facing a new emergency: The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that\u2019s expected by June to end mandatory union fees for all government employees, an outcome that would slash unions\u2019 budgets and power.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the strike in West Virginia, where unions lack both mandatory fees and formal collective bargaining rights, has become for some a beacon, an example of the type of disruptive activism that could keep the labor movement alive.\u00a0\u00a0 www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-03-02\/biggest-wildcat-strike-in-decades-hints-at-new-u-s-labor-unrest<\/a><\/p>\n

How\u00a0 they Know it is All or Nothing…<\/span><\/h1>\n