I def agree with your thoughts and I'm taking the whole strike idea with a grain of salt. Some thoughts:
A big problem w a general strike is the symbolic agreement / digestible marketability of a start date. One of the most recent that resulted in virtually nothing was October 15th. The problem? The date is arbitrary and doesn't mean anything to anyone.
Or even if you pick a date and attach some actual history, like May 1st, the attempts to try to reverse engineer symbolism are difficult. It's too much work to pass that on to the general population. Its obtuse. Its vague. It doesn't apply to everyone. Black Friday is pretty clear cut.
Even if only a small portion of the workforce end up opting out, it can make a big difference. If only 10% of a big box store leave, it'll have a compound effect on the entire operation.
Sure, there's not much of a coordinated bargaining plan to any of this-- but many of the working class are at least cognizant to the illusion of the economy-- so I think every time that hits the collective mainstream its something to get excited about.
I think "Black Friday" has enough negative connotations attached to it - angry mobs, bullshit sales, crazy hours, overworked staff - that it should be comparatively easy to polarize retail workers around it. People have grown to actively loathe the day, as it just feels like scams all the way down. Being press-ganged into facilitating that shit only furthers the resentment.
I def agree with your thoughts and I'm taking the whole strike idea with a grain of salt. Some thoughts:
Or even if you pick a date and attach some actual history, like May 1st, the attempts to try to reverse engineer symbolism are difficult. It's too much work to pass that on to the general population. Its obtuse. Its vague. It doesn't apply to everyone. Black Friday is pretty clear cut.
Even if only a small portion of the workforce end up opting out, it can make a big difference. If only 10% of a big box store leave, it'll have a compound effect on the entire operation.
Sure, there's not much of a coordinated bargaining plan to any of this-- but many of the working class are at least cognizant to the illusion of the economy-- so I think every time that hits the collective mainstream its something to get excited about.
I think "Black Friday" has enough negative connotations attached to it - angry mobs, bullshit sales, crazy hours, overworked staff - that it should be comparatively easy to polarize retail workers around it. People have grown to actively loathe the day, as it just feels like scams all the way down. Being press-ganged into facilitating that shit only furthers the resentment.