[lbo-talk] Tracking the decline of the left's historic base

Marv Gandall marvgandall at videotron.ca
Thu Feb 11 06:17:20 PST 2010


The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that there were five major strikes and lockouts in 2009 "the lowest number since the major work stoppages series began in 1947". They affected 13,000 workers and resulted in 124,400 individual lost workdays - also "record lows". The BLS defines as major any work stoppage in workplaces employing 1000 or more organized workers.

During the past three decades - as technological change and the relocation of production overseas and to "open shop" states increasingly reduced the relative weight and bargaining power of the organized industrial working class in the US - there have never been 100 or more major strikes in a single year.

Between 1947-1981, there had never been fewer than 100 work stoppages in any one year.

In 1949, there were 262 major strikes or lockouts involving more than 2.5 million workers and resulting in more than 43 million workdays lost. In 1959, 1.3 million workers downed tools in large workplaces. In 1969, 412 enterprises employing 1.5 million workers were shut down. There were major work stoppages in 235 workplaces employing more than a million workers in 1979. Strike activity during this period peaked in 1974, as 1.8 million workers in 435 plants and offices reacted to the oil price shock.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/wkstp.pdf



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