Changing the Dialogue

The strike led by Occupy Oakland yesterday was significant for several reasons, according to Ken Margolies, ILR's director of organizing programs.

"The last general strike called in the U.S. was in Oakland in 1946. So, the general strike called by Occupy Oakland is not only a significant development in the Occupy Wall Street movement, but in labor history, as well," he said in an interview.

Thousands of people from a breadth of workplaces participated in the day-long strike, which had mixed impact on commerce in the Bay Area city, Margolies said. A general strike typically involves workers from a variety of workplaces in the same geographic community.

"The U.S. labor movement is unique in the world for being very focused on individual collective bargaining agreements with one employer or industry. In many parts of the world, unions often allied with political parties will call general strikes where everyone is asked to cease working as a way of effectuating political, social or economic change on the national level."

In the U.S., Margolies said: "Unions normally limit their political action to supporting candidates and issues in the electoral arena. That's why the general strike in Oakland is particularly significant; many large unions have given their support."

"The fact that unions are endorsing the call for a general strike is unprecedented in recent times," he said. "This is one more sign that the Occupy Wall Street movement has changed the political landscape and national dialogue."

"Not only are students, the unemployed and individual workers responding, but working people and unions are being emboldened to take actions not seen since the late 1940s," he said.