The Right to Withhold Labor Is Not Negotiable

In a nation founded on liberty and the pursuit of justice, it is telling that the most basic form of worker power—refusing to work—is so often vilified, criminalized, or violently suppressed. Despite public statements supporting the idea of organized labor, political and corporate elites consistently deploy police, courts, and media narratives to crush effective strikes. They claim to support unions, but only the kind that lose gracefully.

From Amazon warehouses to Starbucks counters to Hollywood studios, American workers have rediscovered their power in withholding labor. But each time a strike proves disruptive, political leaders denounce it as “irresponsible,” “unpatriotic,” or “harmful to the economy.” It’s a transparent maneuver: celebrate labor as a principle, so long as it stays silent, obedient, and productive (Milkman, 2020; McAlevey, 2022).

History shows that when strikes threaten the status quo, the reaction is swift and brutal. From the Ludlow Massacre in 1914 to the West Coast longshore strikes in the 1930s, to Reagan’s crushing of the air traffic controllers in 1981, governments have always sided with capital when push comes to shove (Zinn, 2005).

But here’s the truth: the economy is not a god, and growth is not a moral compass. When workers withhold labor, they are not causing chaos—they are revealing it. They are exposing the deep dependency of corporate profit on everyday human effort. The right to strike is not a gift from the state. It is a human right. And no government that suppresses it can credibly claim to represent freedom.

It’s time we stopped asking permission.

References
McAlevey, J. (2022). Rules to win by: Power and participation in union negotiations. Oxford University Press.
Milkman, R. (2020). Immigrant labor and the new precariat. Polity Press.
Zinn, H. (2005). A people’s history of the United States. Harper Perennial.

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