The Oakland General Strike was kind of an odd thing, not necessarily exactly a strike in the usual sense. I assume because of an awareness of the weakness of organized labor and the difficulty a lot of workers would have in actually striking, the General Assembly called for people to participate in whatever way they felt able, including, for example, taking leave on the day. I think the question of how, if at all, you can organize something like a general strike in the absence of strong unions (and with the kind of neoliberal organization of work - a lot of temporary and casual work, for instance - which I think makes traditional union organization particularly difficult) is an interesting one which the Oakland General Strike was trying to come up with some kind of answer to.
--
"When placed in value-relation to the linen, the coat signifies more
than when out of that relation, just as many a man strutting about
in a gorgeous uniform counts for more than when in mufti."
-- Marx, _Capital_ Voyou Desoeuvre http://blog.voyou.org/