Earlier this year we were posting on such things.*
This one seems a bit half-assed but the threat of a real, well-coordinated general strike is something risk managers should be aware of.
From ZeroHedge:
A general strike (or mass strike) across the U.S. is planned for Oct. 15. It may involve a substantial proportion of the total labor force across metro areas, towns, and rural communities that could bring the economy to a standstill.
Organizers of the general strike call themselves "National General Strike Day" and appear to be a movement that may involve workers in many workplaces and or unions.
Not much is clear about "National General Strike Day," except their top 5 following on Twitter is the "Party for Socialism and Liberation," "Socialist Rifle Association," "AFL-CIO," "United Steelworkers," and "UAW." They do blame "capitalism in decline" for why they're striking.
Their reasons for striking are listed on their website and state, "the U.S. Government is not serving its people:"
- The United States is the only developed country that requires zero paid time off for maternity leave
- Unemployment rose to 14% in 2021 because companies refused to raise wages
- Only 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of all global carbon emissions
- The Federal Minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2009
- 40 million Americans live at, or below the national poverty line
- Pharmaceutical companies are extorting patients for medications
- And the average American is $90,460 in debt just to afford basic necessities like housing, food, clothes, education, and medical bills
They say, "this demonstration serves to show your company, and our country as a whole, that you deserve basic human rights....
January 12, 2021
Logistics: "Shutting It All Down: The Power of General Strikes in U.S. History"
For the last month* I've been pondering the optimal bet should a general strike interrupt transport into major urban centers....
December 13, 2020
Urban Complexity and Fragility
Sometimes people forget where their food comes from and who it is they should thank for their daily sustenance.
One of the things a risk manager is tasked with is catastrophizing possible futures and developing plans to either mitigate or hopefully, profit from the worst case scenario. Most of our readers are familiar with the more dramatic scenarios: Tokyo earthquake at magnitude 8.5 - 9.5. An electromagnetic pulse, whether caused by a coronal mass ejection or an airburst of a nuclear weapon, an underwater landslide on the order of the Storegga slide creating a megatsunami, etc. These are the better known risks.
But one of the more mundane risks is something like a general strike....
Now where things might get really interesting is if you start hearing the term "Direct Action":
...From the French version of Wikipedia: Action directe (AD) est un groupe clandestin (aux influences anarchistes et communistes...)
From Wikipedia: Action Directe was a French Maoist/Marxist-Leninist militant group which committed a series of assassinations and violent attacks in France between 1979 and 1987....
That is, as you can probably tell, a repost. Back in 2007 I was poking a bit of gentle fun at the Marxist-Leninists-Trots:
"International Day of Direct Action Against Climate Change and the G8"
More to come as the day approaches.
