Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T22:16:40.396Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quitting Work but Not the Job: Liberty and the Right to Strike

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2016

Alex Gourevitch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The right to strike is everywhere recognized but appears unjustifiable. Strikers refuse to work but they claim a right to the job. This sounds like illiberal privilege, or at least it cannot be a coercively enforceable claim. I argue, however, that the right to strike is justified as a way of resisting intertwined forms of structural and personal domination associated with the modern labor market. Workers are structurally dominated insofar as being forced to make a contract with some employer or another leaves them vulnerable to exploitation. They are personally dominated insofar as they are required to submit to the arbitrary authority of managers in the workplace, which deepens their potential exploitation. Strikes contest this domination by reversing the relationship of power. Workers can formally quit the job but they can’t quit work, so strikers quit working but don’t quit the job.

Type
Articles
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 307 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamic, Louis. 1971. Dynamite; The Story of Class Violence in America. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.Google Scholar
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2015. “Equality and Freedom in the Workplace: Recovering Republican Insights.” Social Philosophy & Policy 31(2): 48–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atleson, James B. 1983. Values and Assumptions in American Labor Law. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar
Bennett-Smith, Meredith. 2012. “Indiana AT&T Technicians File Class Action Lawsuit Citing Grim Break Conditions.” Huffington Post, August 14. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/indiana-att-technicians-class-action-lawsuit-lunch-breaks_n_1777166.html, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Bertram, Chris, Robin, Corey, and Gourevitch, Alex. 2012. “Let It Bleed: Libertarianism and the Workplace.” Crooked Timber, July 1. http://crookedtimber.org/2012/07/01/let-it-bleed-libertarianism-and-the-workplace/, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Borman, David. N.d. “Contractualism and the Right to Strike.” Nipissing University: Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Brecher, Jeremy. 2014. Strike! Oakland: PM Press.Google Scholar
Burns, Joe. 2011. Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. Brooklyn: Ig Publishing.Google Scholar
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2013. “Employment Projections: 2012–2022 Summary.” December 19. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 1988. History, Labour and Freedom: Themes from Marx. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Ronnie. 2013. “Healthcare Workers Strike at Five California Public Hospitals.” Reuters, May 21. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-usa-health-strike-idUSBRE94K13T20130521, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Coppage v. Kansas , 1915. 236 U.S. 1.Google Scholar
Cramton, Peter and Tracy, Joseph. 1998. “The Use of Replacement Workers in Union Contract Negotiations: The U.S. Experience, 1980–1989.” Journal of Labor Economics 16(4): 667–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, Janet and Ferrie, Joseph. 2000. “The Law and Labor Strike in the United States, 1881–1894.” Journal of Economic History 60(1): 42–66.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1986. A Preface to Economic Democracy. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro. 1881. Mathematical Psychics. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co.Google Scholar
Egelko, Bob. 2011. “Employers Must Pay if They Deny Lunch Breaks.” San Francisco Chronicle, February 18.Google Scholar
Eidelson, Josh. 2013. “Largest Fast Food Strike Ever Today: 58 Cities Will Be Affected.” Salon, August 29. http://www.salon.com/2013/08/29/largest_fast_food_strike_ever_today_50_cities_will_be_affected/, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Emerson, Ramona. 2011. “13 Controversial Facebook Firings: Palace Guards, Doctors, Teachers and More.” Huffington Post, October 17. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/facebook-firings_n_1003789.html, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Engels, Friedrich. 1958 [1845]. The Condition of the Working Class in England. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ezorsky, Gertrude. 2007. Freedom in the Workplace. Cornell, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Forbath, William. 1991. Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Frow, R., Frow, E., and Katanka, Michael. 1971. Strikes: A Documentary History. London: Charles Knight & Co.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2013. “Labor Republicanism and the Transformation of Work.” Political Theory 41(4): 591–617.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Alex. 2015. From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth: Labor and Republican Liberty in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2009. The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2011. “Verizon Workers Plan to End Strike, Agreeing to Revive Talks Toward a Contract.” New York Times, August 20. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/technology/verizon-workers-end-strike-though-without-new-contract.html?_r=0, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2014. “Supreme Court Ruling on Union Fees is a Limited Blow to Labor.” New York Times, June 30. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/business/supreme-court-ruling-on-public-workers-and-union-fees.html, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Hall, Peter and Soskice, David. 2001. Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, Oliver. 1995. Firms, Contracts and Financial Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hattam, Victoria. 1993. Labor Visions and State Power: Origins of Business Unionism in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich von. 2011. Constitution of Liberty: The Definitive Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hess, Amanda. 2013. “How Sexy Should A Worker Be? The Plight of the Babe in the American Workplace.” Slate Magazine, July 29. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/07/29/borgata_babes_lawsuit_new_legal_cases_assess_discrimination_based_on_sex.html, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Hobhouse, L. T. 1944. Liberalism. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Horovitz, Bruce and Alcindor, Yamiche. 2015. “Fast-food Strikes Widen into Social Justice Movement.” USA Today, April 15. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/04/15/fast-food-strike-fight-for-15-service-employees-international-union/25787045/ accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Horwitz, Morton. 1977. The Transformation of American Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hsieh, Nien-hê. 2005. “Rawlsian Justice and Workplace Republicanism.” Social Theory and Practice 31(1): 115–42.Google Scholar
Hsu, Tiffany. 2011. “Amazon Warehouse Employees Overheated Ahead of Holiday Season.” Los Angeles Times, September 19.Google Scholar
Hume, David. 1987 [1742]. “Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations.” In Essays, Moral, Political, Literary, ed. Miller, Eugene F.. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.Google Scholar
Jamieson, Dave. 2013. “Amazon Warehouse Workers Sue over Security Checkpoint Waits.” Huffington Post, May 8.Google Scholar
JOMO. 2013. “Caring on Stolen Time.” Dissent. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/caring-on-stolen-time-a-nursing-home-diary, accessed January 29, 2016. Note: JOMO is a pseudonym used by the author, all caps.Google Scholar
Journal of United Labor . 1886. “Industrial Ideas Chapter III.” VII(5): 2109–2111.Google Scholar
Journal of United Labor . 1888. ““Labor’s Disadvantage.” VIII(27): 2554.Google Scholar
Krugman, Paul. 2013. “The Fear Economy.” New York Times, December 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/opinion/krugman-the-fear-economy.html?_r=0, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Lambert, Josiah Bartlett. 2005. “If the Workers Took a Nation”: The Right to Strike and American Political Development. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board , 502 U.S. 527, 537 (1992).Google Scholar
Liebknecht, Karl. 1917. Militarism. New York: B.W. Huebsch.Google Scholar
Liptak, Adam. 2014. “Supreme Court Rules Against Worker Pay for Screenings in Amazon Warehouse Case.” New York Times, December 9. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/business/supreme-court-rules-against-worker-pay-for-security-screenings.html?_r=0, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Lintott, Andrew. 1999. The Constitution of the Roman Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, Lyneka. 2012. “AT&T Workers Claim Lunch Break Violations.” ABC News, August 15.Google Scholar
Livius, Titus. 1905. The History of Rome. London: J.M. Dent & Sons.Google Scholar
Locke, Don. 1984. “The Right to Strike.” Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture Series 18: 173–202.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, L. J. 1981. The Right to Strike. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Millar, Fergus. 2002. The Roman Republic in Political Thought. Hanover: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1909. Principles of Political Economy. London: Longmans, Green and Co. http://www.econlib.org/library/Mill/mlP72.html#Bk.V,Ch.X, accessed January 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Naidu, Suresh and Yuchtman, Noam. N.d. “A Hobbesian View of Late 19th Century U.S. Labor Markets.”Google Scholar
National Labor Relations Board v. Babcock and Wilcox Co ., 351 U.S. 105:134 (1956).Google Scholar
National Labor Relations Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Col , 304 U.S. 333 (1938).Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 1999. Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2006. “Freedom in the Market.” Politics, Philosophy & Economics 5(2): 131–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2007. “A Republican Right to a Basic Income?” Basic Income Studies 2(2): 1–8.Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2013. On the People’s Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pope, James Gray. 1997. “Labor’s Constitution of Freedom.” Yale Law Journal 106(4): 941–1031.Google Scholar
Pope, James Gray. 2004. “How American Workers Lost the Right to Strike, and Other Tales.” Rutgers University (Newark) Legal Working Paper Series.Google Scholar
Pope, James Gray. 2009. “Class Conflicts of Law II: Solidarity, Entrepreneurship, and the Deep Agenda of the Obama NLRB.” Buffalo Law Review 57(3): 653–685.Google Scholar
Raaflaub, Kurt, ed. 2005. “From Protection and Defense to Offense and Participation: Stages in the Conflict of the Orders.” In Social Struggles in Archaic Rome, 2d ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Report of the Industrial Commission on the Relations and Conditions of Capital and Labor Vol 7 , 1901. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Roberts, William Clare. N.d. Marx’s Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital.Google Scholar
Seba, Irwin. 2015. “Oil Refinery Strike Widens in Largest U.S. Plant.” Reuters, February 21. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/21/us-refinery-strike-wide_n_6727736.html, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Shenfield, Arthur. 1986. What Right to Strike? London: Institute of Economic Affairs.Google Scholar
Smart, Brian. 1985. “The Right to Strike and the Right to Work.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 2(1): 31–40.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1982 [1776]. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.Google Scholar
Stanley, Amy Dru. 1998. From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage, and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strauss, Eric M. 2013. “Iowa Woman Fired for Being Attractive: Looks Back and Moves On.” ABC News, August 2.Google Scholar
Taft, Philip and Ross, Philip. 1969. “American Labor Violence: Its Causes, Character, and Outcome.” In The History of Violence in America: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, ed. Davis Graham, Hugh and Gurr, Ted Robert. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sid. 2013. The Language of Contention: Revolutions in Words 1688–2012. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Manufacturing Co ., 380 U.S. 263 (1965).Google Scholar
Thomas, Ryan. 2011. “Top 10 Famous Strikes in Recent History.” Listverse, November 17. http://listverse.com/2011/11/17/top-10-famous-strikes-in-recent-history/, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Uetricht, Micah. 2014. Strike for America. Brooklyn: Verso Books.Google Scholar
United States, Wagner, Robert F. and Radcliffe, George Lovic Pierce. 1945. Assuring Full Employment in a Free Competitive Economy: Report from the Committee On Banking and Currency, To Accompany S. 380. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Urbina, Ian. 2013. “As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester.” New York Times, March 30.Google Scholar
Vega, Tanzina. 2012. “In Ads, the Workers Rise Up … and Go to Lunch.” New York Times, July 7.Google Scholar
Velasco, J. D. 2011. “Fired Gay Water Polo Coach and Supporters Protest at Charter Oak Board Meeting.” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, October 7.Google Scholar
Vrousalis, Nicholas. 2013. “Exploitation, Vulnerability, and Social Domination.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 41(2): 131–57.Google Scholar
Wasserman, Todd. 2012. “Amazon Dragged into Applebee’s Latest Jokey Campaign.” Mashable, July 25.Google Scholar
White, Ahmed A. 2008. “The Crime of Staging an Effective Strike and the Enduring Role of Criminal Law in Modern Labor Relations.” Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society 11(1): 23–44.Google Scholar
Wolf, Richard. 2015. “Supreme Court to Hear Case Threatening Public Employees.” USA Today, June 30. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/30/supreme-court-labor-unions/29484013/, accessed August 7, 2015.Google Scholar