I’ve been reading about the UAW strikes against General Motors in Michigan. One thing I’ve noticed about past strike coverage is little if any mention is made about the effect strikes like this have on the working force outside of GM.
When I worked for Canadian National Railroad on the Grand Trunk district in Michigan, the strikes of 1996 nearly shut us down too. How about the outside sources GM buys from? How many other factories and tens of thousands of workers were affected by these strikes?
It is sad that auto workers can strike and idle much of the country, but railroaders and air-traffic controllers, by federal law, are not allowed to strike, even though they are union. Many railroad workers have gone years without union contracts because of this.
