Summary
A 24-hour general strike in Greece on Wednesday shut down transport, schools, and government offices as workers protested high living costs.
Unions are demanding a 10% pay raise and the return of holiday bonuses cut during Greece’s financial crisis.
They accuse Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of not doing enough to tackle inflation, despite recent minimum wage increases.
Hospitals operated on emergency staff, while protests and marches were planned.
Many say wages have not kept up with the rising costs of energy, food, and rent.
The one tool Americans refuse to use.
Apparently we haven’t been fucked enough yet. I’m honestly curious how low we will go. I suspect there is no bottom and Americans are just flesh bags trained to seek out meat grinders.
The first problem is the polarisation. If people that are perceived to be Democrats call out a general strike, 50 percent won’t participate. Vice versa if perceived GOP does this. The polarisation and politicisation of every topic is what stops you from organising effectively.
Refuse? This was called by unions. In the US, that kind of union activity is illegal. What system do you think we can use in the US to call for a general strike that enough people would 1) be aware of the strike 2) agree with the need for a strike and 3) be able to participate without harming their livelihoods? Cause in Greece, the answer for all three was unions. Here in the states… I don’t know if anything is setup for that. Even reaching enough people to begin with would be tough.
Like, be rightly angry at the laws in the US that make this nigh impossible, maybe raise awareness, but don’t blame the damn victims.
Do you think the strikes that got us workers rights in the first place were legal at their time?
They were attacked by the oligarchy, sometimes with dozens of people killed.
You dont get anything done against an oligarchy if you play by their rules.
People forget that strikes are a civil option to the alternative.
Unions aren’t the sole proprietor of the strike. It’s so disheartening to realize over and over again people like yourself have no imagination. No heart. No ingenuity and have to be constantly shown what is possible.
Hey. You’re the one shoveling disheartening shit, not me. Pretending a general strike would be easy here in the states is one of the other reasons why it’s so fucking hard to do. Every time someone half-asses one, people buy into the hype, and then nothing happens makes it less likely for an actual general strike to happen. It’s a logistical nightmare that could only work if you got unions to buy-in, and that would require coordinating contract expirations to coincide around the time you want the strike to happen, since unions in the states can’t legally go on a solidarity strike. I’m definitely not saying it’s impossible, but crying that it’s actually really easy and the fact that America hasn’t done it is because we all actually like the taste of boot is the actual demotivating opinion to shovel.
No, it will work if we get your buy in, but youre already 3d chessing yourself out of it. Like, we’ve tried nothing and we are all out of ideas. Literally.
Self fulfilling prophecy.
Ok, I presume you’re American since you know how easy it’d be.
How far along are you in your plan for the general strike?
Considering everyone I talk to has given up just like the OP, not very far. Hey, it doesn’t have to be that way. You could commit to it right now and spread the word. I’m just one guy who will keep advocating. You could too. If I’m mathing correctly, that would double my efforts.
Sorry, I’m not American.
But you’re just starting now? How would you know how easy it is or isn’t already?
Miss me with your bullshit. You can support the cause now, no matter where you live, or you can be another negative force in a sea of negativity.
I won’t waste my time with you, though, that’s for sure.
We don’t refuse I think it’s just too hard to coordinate.
I’ll take any day off work. I’m looking for excuses!
It’s not like people need to even get into the streets. Everyone just coordinate to call in sick one day. Just one day to show yourselves the power you have, then go from there.