Hey so I googled the steps. I guess we gotta form committees, mobilize, raise public awareness, I got the syllabus. So like how do we get this thing going? Are there organisations already working on this or do we gotta grassroots this?
Welcome to the last two centuries of anti-capitalist organizing.
Everybody is at all times "working on it".
I mean, that seems flippant, but it's true. Look at previous historical examples of General Strikes that occurred. Now look at your own life, where you live. How closely do those circumstances match?
I live in America, where we have trouble getting a single Starbucks to walk out. The NLRB, which is theoretically the hub that allows the country's government and unions to talk to each other, is being actively gutted as we speak. The AFL-CIO, basically The Unions, is a liberal dinosaur incapable of accomplishing anything revolutionary. The IWW is putting out fires everywhere it can. And poor Trump voters are furiously trying to figure out wtf a tariff is.
Do you have any ideas??
You need a shitload of influence across the entire region you're targeting (the county?). If you're asking this question, you probably don't have it. You should've started a decade or two ago.
A national general strike requires the organization of other large amounts of large organizations with millions of members.
Calling for a strike on Lemmy won't get you anything. The best random people like us might be able to do is target those with that influence to try and cajole them into organizing the strike.
If the USA were to have a general strike, it's more than likely that the UAW would be the ones calling for it. They're a very large union of which most Americans are aware and likely have a very high approval amongst average people.
A national general strike requires the organization of [...] millions of members.
With the internet this should, in theory, be easy.
Internet, phones, snail mail, word of mouth, whatever. The issue remains the same. You need clout. And a lot of it in the right places with the right people.
Have you tried posting shitty memes making fun of liberals yet? That seems to be all that lemmy knows how to do.
For real though, thanks for the work and effort to actually do something. I'm not sure what the next step is, but I'm here for it.
A good place to start is investigating if someone else already is (like generalstrikeus.com already is) and try to join them. Strikes are all about strength in numbers, and joining an existing effort is way more effective than starting from zero
The UAW has spent years preparing for a general strike on May Day 2028. Join the movement.
generalstrikeus.com
You know what I think would be helpful would be to have someone in the know compile a list of the organizations who are already active and planning things like this and distribute it around Lemmy and other circles.
Motivating people to act is one thing but telling them how and showing them where and who to get involved with is much better.
How large is the org? If you work in a retail shop or restaurant, you can start talking to people one on one. If it’s a mega corp, you’ll need other strategies, such as organizing meetings. I wish I had more advice, but you’ve started doing the homework and that’s not nothing. Good luck!
You mean a strike in USA? Midwest ? Maybe put that in the title. A bit confusing for citizens not living there.
As for methods, copy paste Europe for #how to strike. But your main problem is that you don't have much unions. Have to start somewhere though!
Join the IWW
You should probably look up what other people do and connect with them. Like worker's unions, charities and non-profits, people with influence, the political opposition. The big part of "organizing" is connecting with people. So call them, go to their meetings, find individual supporters for your cause, or whole groups who are willing to collaborate with you on topics or the whole thing. Once you have a few hundreds or thousands of supporters, do meetings. Let people talk and discuss their ideas. Form a plan of action and who does what. And once you have a proper organization in place, people to do the various jobs, interconnections which allow you reach lots of people, you can start with the organization of the general strike and the simultaneous protests spread out through the country. But at that point you should have the acceptance of every major union and their promise to back you with their members, plus lots of other people who are ready and waiting for you to give them the go.
If you're young and more inclined towards internet activism, have a look a Fridays for Future and events like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Strike
Other than that you can always look at the French people. They do a lot of protesting and general strikes. I'm just not sure if that translates to countries like the USA.
Off topic: Why does it say that this post is crossposted to the same community? Is this a bug?
Possibly someone intended to cross post to NSQ on another instance? There's one on Lemmy.ca for example. Maybe they just typed the wrong one?
I sense huge r/antiwork vibes. I hope it will be at least as much fun.
Send an email?
First step is making sure its legal
Well, when you figure out why exactly you want to do it, when you want to do it, and who all should be involved, build off of that with actionable steps. The why is the most important as you need to be able to communicate exactly what it is your demands are and what will be considered satisfactory to end the strike not only to those you need to negotiate with, but with those you want to participate and as a message to the public. Make a realistic 'when' so that you have a deadline and something concrete to work with. The who needs to be quantifiable. Do you want a certain percentage of workers participating before you start? Get a number and stick with it.
The main thing to keep in mind is to communicate with others and yourself in clear and actionable steps. Asking someone to strike with you? What does their role looks like? What will they be doing? When will they be doing it? What resources will be provided to them? Found your way to the negotiating table? What are your demands? What will you not compromise on? What are you willing to compromise on? Do you have someone who understands corporate lawyerspeak that can translate for you? Do you have a reliable way to effectively communicate the results of negotiations with the participating workers?
I think it's better to try and start this yourself. Find like-minded people at work to help delegate out the tasks needed to organize and sustain the strike. As you organize, you might have certain organizations reach out to provide assistance, which would be great, but plan on doing it all yourself. Afterall, the movement is about empowering the workers, and what could be more empowering than having come together to do this yourselves?
You can organize something on social media that is popular in your country, from social media expand to TV, newspapers, or anything else
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