Joe Burns- Reviving the Strike

Joe Burns, “Reviving the Strike”

Conference for Bargaining and Organizing, October 27-28, 2023

Newport, Oregon

In his talk, “Reviving the Strike,” labor lawyer Joe Burns traces the history of union strikes in the U.S. and discusses their impact on current labor negotiations. Based on his thirty years of bargaining experience, Burns feels that today’s public employees are just now rediscovering the power of the strike that was evident in the 1960s and 1970s when strikes played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement as powerful acts of civil disobedience (witness the Memphis Garbage Strike of 1968). 

 

Burns argues that public sector strikes are fundamentally political in nature and therefore must be based on a concern for the public good. If a union is transparent with its demands and concerns, Burns promises that members will support the efforts and show up when needed. 

 

Books by Joe Burns

Joe Burns. Class Struggle Unionism. Haymarket Books, 2022.

 

Joe Burns. Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. Lg Publishing, 2011. 

 

Joe Burns. Strike Back: Using the Militant Tactics of Labor’s Past to Reignite Public Sector Unionism Today. Lg Publishing, 2019.