<Doug
I had some data on the strikes of the 1970's on file so here is some numbers. I can get anyone the file if they like, the graph is much more striking than pure numbers.
Work stoppages, workers involved, average duration, and person-days idle: 1881-1998 BLS
Number of Workers involved
stoppages in Thousands 1960 222 896 1961 195 1031 1962 211 793 1963 181 512 1964 246 1183 1965 268 999 1966 321 1300 1967 381 2192 1968 392 1855 1969 412 1576 1970 381 2468 1971 298 2516 1972 250 975 1973 317 1400 1974 424 1796 1975 235 965 1976 231 1519 1977 298 1212 1978 219 1006 1979 235 1021 1980 187 795 1981 145 729 1982 96 656 1983 81 909 1984 62 376 1985 54 324 1986 69 533 1987 46 174 1988 40 118 1989 51 452 1990 44 185 1991 40 392 1992 35 364 1993 35 182 1994 45 322 1995 31 192 1996 37 273 1997 29 339 1998 34 387
Interestingly if one correlates this, allowing for some lag time, with the changes in wealth concentration in the top 1% you get some interesting results.
Distribution of household wealth: 1962-1998
Year Share held by
Top 1 percent
Percent 1962 31.5 1965 34.8 1969 37.6 1972 34 1976 21.8 1979 22.4 1981 27.2 1983 33.8 1986 34.9 1989 37.4 1992 37.2 1995 38.5 1998 38.1
It was the worker strikes that drove down the rates of profit (combined with increased international competition- ie: Japan and Europe) that instigated a response from the elite in the form of an ideological/civil society assult (ie: think tanks and Reaganism/neo-liberalism). I think David Harveys analysis in A Breif History of Neo-liberalism is both accurate and a very succinct explanation.
Brad