With Occupy Oakland calling for a general strike on Wednesday, one of the big questions is whether local unions will take part. This is one of those cases where the Occupy movement, having less to lose than unions, is more free to propose and carry out unconventional and daring tactics, because the thing is, general strikes are a dicey area under the law and calling for or officially engaging in one could put a union in violation of the law or of a specific contract.
Nevertheless, the Oakland Education Association:
...endorsed Occupy Oakland's November 2 "General Strike/Mass Day of Action" and is urging members to participate in a variety of ways, including taking personal leave to join actions at Frank Ogawa Plaza, doing informational picketing at school sites, and holding teach-ins on the history of general strikes and organizing for economic justice.
In that statement you can pretty well see what the OEA believes it can legally call on its members to do by way of a general strike. Local 713 of the Carpenters said simply:
We further resolve to support the call of the 2,000 Oaklanders at Occupy Oakland for a one-day strike in Oakland for Wednesday November 2nd, 2011, to protest our country’s rising inequality and the brutal actions of the police in the city of Oakland, California.
The Alameda Labor Council also issued a solidarity statement that detailed specific, non-strike actions its members could take on Nov. 2.
While the International Warehouse and Longshore Union is clear that it cannot call for a general strike, Oakland North reports that, at Friday's General Assembly of Occupy Oakland, a speaker announced that:
...the port workers have contractual obligations which prevent them from taking part in any blockade, and that in meetings with himself and the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU)— which represents the some of the port’s workers— union leaders made it clear they would not endorse or take part in the effort.
However, Riley said, union leaders also made it clear that their members would not cross a picket line if one were erected.
At 5PM Wednesday, then, Occupy Oakland will march on the Port of Oakland, and ILWU members will honor their picket line, potentially shutting down the port, though the union has not called for a strike.
However many people stay off the job entirely on Wednesday, unions are throwing enough support behind Occupy Oakland's actions on that day—carefully within the law—to make it a strong day of mass action at a minimum.