Mark C. Eades
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers are calling for a general strike if Donald Trump attempts to subvert the 2020 election outcome or refuses to leave office after a Joe Biden election victory. The first of these was the Rochester Labor Council in New York, which passed a resolution on October 13 that ”calls on the National AFL-CIO, all of its affiliate unions, and all other labor organizations in the United States of America to prepare for and enact a general strike of all working people, if necessary, to ensure a Constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 Presidential Elections.”
The Rochester Labor Council was followed by the Western Massachusetts Labor Federation on October 19 and the MLK Labor/King County Labor Council in Seattle on October 21. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, also spoke in favor of a general strike if Trump attempts to subvert the election. “What we’ve seen is people going about our business during the day and conducting mass protests at night, and that’s not going to be enough to make this president move,” said Nelson. “He will use those protests to further divide the country. We will have to do the one thing that takes all power and control from the government or anyone with corporate interests in keeping this person in office, and that is withholding our labor.”
Trump knows that the only way he can “win” is to cheat, and he’s counting on the corrupt right-wing majority on the Supreme Court to help him. In this event, strikes and other forms of direct action — including nationwide demonstrations planned by organizations such as Protect The Results and Choose Democracy — could be the most effective ways of stopping him. America’s last general strike was in Oakland, California, in 1946. If Trump and his lackey justices on the Supreme Court attempt to steal democracy in 2020, it may be time for another one.