4 ms·

Ok the US system is just plain weird. Here in the Nordics there is no law protecting you from not getting fired for not showing up for work during a strike. It

by doikor 5y ago

Ok the US system is just plain weird. Here in the Nordics there is no law protecting you from not getting fired for not showing up for work during a strike. It is all in the collective agreement that both sides agreed upon. And again the collective agreement applies to everyone union member or not. Basically if a company does so the company is fucked as support strikes will stop pretty much all basic services your company uses from happening (cleaning, trash collecting, security guards, trucking/package services, etc would just stop happening). Obviously this only works if there is relatively high level of unionization on all fields. Getting all these support strikes slapped on top of the "normal" strike is what happens when the employer breaks (or refuses to sign/join) the collective agreement (this is exactly what happened to McDonalds in Denmark)

jollybean 5y ago
"Here in the Nordics there is no law protecting you from not getting fired for not showing up for work during a strike." Though I can't speak to that fact specifically, I doubt that Nordics can be fired from not showing up due to striking - because 'striking' i.e. the threat of shutting down the factory and the company not being able to dismiss everyone is the basis for the collective bargaining power. Without the 'power' there is no basis to bargain. If the company can just punt unskilled workers and hire new ones, then striking has considerably less power in most scenarios. That said it's worth pointing out the differences between Nordic Unions and traditional American Unions. The later is heavily working class (think Ford/GM plant) while the former is just as much 'White Collar' (think Teachers Union). Also, it's worth pointing out that again, technically, it's 'legal' to 'not show up for work' even if you're a member of an N/A union, it just means you'll be let go and that's that. People are pushing the wording of that far to aggressively.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  > Though I can't speak to that fact specifically, I doubt that Nordics can be fired from not showing up due to striking - because 'striking' i.e. the threat of shutting down the factory and the company not being able to dismiss everyone is the basis for the collective bargaining power. > Without the 'power' there is no basis to bargain. My understanding is that the Nordic unions have this power via secondary boycots. If you hire non-union unskilled labor for your factory, good luck getting unionized truck drivers to haul the finished product away. > Also, it's worth pointing out that again, technically, it's 'legal' to 'not show up for work' even if you're a member of an N/A union, it just means you'll be let go and that's that. People are pushing the wording of that far to aggressively. "Illegal" and "Unlawful" are terms that are widely used. Just participating in an illegal strike is not criminal and (unless you otherwise disrupt the company's business) the only civil repercussion is loss of job (including backwages).
aidenn0 5y ago
The US system is just plain weird and is a result of massive corruption at the beginning of the labor movement. Both sides did highly illegal things and whichever side was better funded (almost always the companies at the beginning) would bribe the local law-enforcement to get away with it. Eventually this led to the establishment of the NLRB and various laws that kept trying to patch any (real or perceived) current imbalance of power. It's like a sport where they make rule changes to emphasize offense, but then a few years later make other changes to fix unintended consequences of the first change, and eventually you have so many rules that the refs need extensive training. (Professional gridiron football in the US is this way; not sure if there's a Nordic equivalent)

by doikor 5y ago

jollybean 5y ago

"Here in the Nordics there is no law protecting you from not getting fired for not showing up for work during a strike." Though I can't speak to that fact specifically, I doubt that Nordics can be fired from not showing up due to striking - because 'striking' i.e. the threat of shutting down the factory and the company not being able to dismiss everyone is the basis for the collective bargaining power. Without the 'power' there is no basis to bargain. If the company can just punt unskilled workers and hire new ones, then striking has considerably less power in most scenarios. That said it's worth pointing out the differences between Nordic Unions and traditional American Unions. The later is heavily working class (think Ford/GM plant) while the former is just as much 'White Collar' (think Teachers Union). Also, it's worth pointing out that again, technically, it's 'legal' to 'not show up for work' even if you're a member of an N/A union, it just means you'll be let go and that's that. People are pushing the wording of that far to aggressively.

aidenn0 5y ago
> Though I can't speak to that fact specifically, I doubt that Nordics can be fired from not showing up due to striking - because 'striking' i.e. the threat of shutting down the factory and the company not being able to dismiss everyone is the basis for the collective bargaining power. > Without the 'power' there is no basis to bargain. My understanding is that the Nordic unions have this power via secondary boycots. If you hire non-union unskilled labor for your factory, good luck getting unionized truck drivers to haul the finished product away. > Also, it's worth pointing out that again, technically, it's 'legal' to 'not show up for work' even if you're a member of an N/A union, it just means you'll be let go and that's that. People are pushing the wording of that far to aggressively. "Illegal" and "Unlawful" are terms that are widely used. Just participating in an illegal strike is not criminal and (unless you otherwise disrupt the company's business) the only civil repercussion is loss of job (including backwages).

aidenn0 5y ago

The US system is just plain weird and is a result of massive corruption at the beginning of the labor movement. Both sides did highly illegal things and whichever side was better funded (almost always the companies at the beginning) would bribe the local law-enforcement to get away with it. Eventually this led to the establishment of the NLRB and various laws that kept trying to patch any (real or perceived) current imbalance of power. It's like a sport where they make rule changes to emphasize offense, but then a few years later make other changes to fix unintended consequences of the first change, and eventually you have so many rules that the refs need extensive training. (Professional gridiron football in the US is this way; not sure if there's a Nordic equivalent)