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A General Strike is a Very Serious Matter
Gil McGowen, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), is right. ‘’A General Strike if necessary, but not necessarily a General Strike’’. A General Strike is likely, but cannot be simply ‘announced’. It may take weeks of consultation within the AFL and with political and social allies across Canada. It's a case of go big or go home.
There are heavy penalties like fines and possible jail time,but also incredible risks if there is no strike. Without a change of policy, every union in Alberta has essentially lost the right to strike and the example will not be lost on all conservative governments across Canada. If Danielle Smith does not get at least a bloody nose, an incentive will have been established, to use the notwithstanding clause repeatedly. This is a step towards authoritarianism..
You may be smaller than a bully, but if you stand up for yourself and fight, the bully will be less inclined to pick on you in the future. Premier Doug Ford attempted to use the notwithstanding clause against education workers in Ontario but a meeting with many heads of unions, who threatened a General Strike changed his mind. The PCs have been courting the most conservative elements of labour for years, mainly the skilled construction trades like carpenters, plumbers, LiUNA. These were among the unions reading Ford the riot act. These unions are generally smaller than unions like CUPE but they work in very strategic positions.
There is a big problem here for non-union labour as well. There is a competition for labour of all kinds. Unions set the pace in a sector, and if non union employers don't keep pace, they will lose their workers to those who pay union rates or close to it. This can lead to depressed wages province wide.
France has a tradition of collective action including the General Strike. The belief in the political power of unions to overthrow tyrants or extract concessions, is known as syndicalism, ‘syndicat’ being the French word for union. It is associated with Georges Sorel 'Reflexions on Violence’ 1908. Sorel believed that the very concept of the General Strike gave the working class a powerful, inspiring tool of solidarity. Sorel’s concept of the General Strike wasn't just a tactic, it was a moral and psychological force - a vision of collective courage and struggle that could transform society. Sorel’s ideas inspired many even today and throughout history like the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Historic General Strikes
There are many other examples, like the Polish workers under Lech Walesa and the Solidarnosc Movement, The British Colombia Solidarity strike in 1983, plus Greece in 2010, Chile 2019, India 2020-2021,
The BC Solidarity Strike is probably the closest strike to Alberta in both time and distance.
If the use of the notwithstanding clause is not successfully challenged, and it becomes routine, then every union in Canada has effectively lost its collective bargaining rights. A challenge is not something we should do, it's something we must do.
