The most impactful strikes in history — for better or worse
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
- Throughout world history, strikes have made substantive changes to better working conditions.
- Australian stonemason demonstrations paved the way for the 8-hour workday.
- Striking in the modern era continues to aim for equal payment and protections for workers.
Since 1156 BC, there has been some form of protest demanding better wages and working conditions for workers.
Over time, workdays have changed, and pay scales have altered, but the power of a strike has remained the same. Strikes have halted economies, created the eight-hour workday, saved lives, and, in some cases, cost lives.
Most recently, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have joined the ranks of impactful strikes throughout time. The two unions seek protections from generative AI and popular streaming services, which have changed how we consume media.
The United Auto Workers are also back on the picket line in 2023 after their contract expired with GM, Ford, and Stellantis. The UAW seeks to take back concessions they made in 2019 and increase wages after CEOs from the big three automakers saw significant pay bumps in the last four years.
The strikes are just the latest in a long line of worker protests spanning centuries. Here are a handful of the largest, most powerful strikes in world history.
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Tomb-builders and artisans began complaining of month-long payment delays in 1159 BC, as they prepared for a festival to honor Ramesses III, according to renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson's analysis of ancient record keeping.
Government officials largely ignored the tomb-builders, and they eventually stopped working and took to the city streets yelling "we are hungry." They blocked access to the Valley of the Kings, barring others from bringing sacred food and drink to the dead.
The pharaoh and ancient workers eventually compromised and they got their paychecks — and the strikes led to greater awareness of corruption within the Egyptian ruling class.
Source: Ancient.eu
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The Roman plebeians class represented builders, bakers, and common laborers that were one step above slaves on the social hierarchy. They sometimes stopped working en masse during "secessions" to demand fairer treatment during the Republic.
During the first secession in 494 BC, plebeians walked off the job to protest a law that would increase their debt. The strike resulted in a repeal of that law, as well as a government representative position for plebeians.
The final secession in 287 BC resulted in the formation of the Plebeian Assembly, meaning the class could now pass their own laws the elect their own representatives.
Source: History Daily
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In 1766, miners working for Spanish colonists protested wage reductions and poor working conditions. The two parties eventually negotiated a better labor contract.
The strike began on July 30 after the mining management would not respond to a list of worker grievances. The strike lasted approximately one month, and ended when the administration agreed to increase wages and meet other demands.
Source: Culture Trip, Libcom
Getty Images
The first US general strike — or one that involved workers from different industries — occurred in Philadelphia in 1835 to call for shorter workdays. The strikes began when coal workers went on strike to call for ten-hour workdays in early June. They were soon joined by carpenters, painters, bakers, and more.
Three weeks after the general strike, the city imposed a 10-hour workday and raised wages for some workers.
Source: Pennsylvania Magazine
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The 8-hour workday was first proposed by Scottish socialist Robert Owen in 1817. Owen called for a day that consists of 8 equal hours of work, recreation, and rest.
Australia's labor union, the Operative Masons' Society, decided to call for 8-hour day based on Owen's viewpoint. After negotiations failed with building companies, stonemasons put down their tools and walked off their job at Melbourne University in April of 1856.
Months later, employees and the government agreed on an 8-hour workday without a dip in wages.
The 8-hour workday came to the U.S. first in the state of Illinois, where the state legislature passed a law mandating it in 1867. Many employers refused to cooperate, prompting a massive strike — and earning the nickname "May Day," Business Insider's Shana Lebowitz reported.
The 40-hour workweek wouldn't go national until October 24, 1940.
Source: National Museum Australia
Wikimedia Commons
The Pullman strike represented a culmination of the rifts between labor and business owners in 19th century US, Business Insider's Áine Cain reported.
The strike occurred after workers for The Pullman Company, a luxury rail car service, called for better living conditions and higher wages.
Former President Grover Cleveland called in the federal soldiers to enforce an anti-strike injunction. Strikers and soldiers got into a violent clash in Chicago, resulting in 30 people dead.
Cleveland's later decided to declare Labor Day as a holiday for workers likely to please his constituents after the controversial handling of the strike.
Source: Business Insider
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Before the strike, letter carriers worked physically demanding jobs for long hours and with limited breaks. Many workers did not receive substantial pay raises even after decades on the job, according to HISTORY.
Despite laws that prohibit federal workers from striking, USPS letter carriers defied their union and 30% of them went on a nationwide strike for eight days, the largest walkout of federal employees in history. The event disrupted millions of mail and package deliveries, eventually resulting in a national emergency. Former President Richard Nixon even deployed the National Guard to deliver mail.
The strike eventually ended, and Congress approved a 6% wage hike for postal workers.
Associated Press
During the height of summer traffic, 7,000 flights were canceled after thousands of air traffic controllers went on strike to demand better pay.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization had called for reduced work-weeks and a $10,000 pay increase across the board, a package that would cost the Federal Aviation Administration $770 million. In response, the FAA offered a measly $40 million.
About 13,000 air traffic controllers went on strike, prompting former president Ronald Reagan to threaten to fire them if they don't return to work in 48 hours. About 11,000 continued to strike, and Reagan made good on his word.
While the mass layoffs delayed flights initially, supervisors and non-unionized controllers had managed to bring 80% of flights back to schedule. The strike was considered a failure, and Reagan banned the demonstrating the air traffic controllers from working for the FAA again.
Associated Press
Conservative right-wing leader Margaret Thatcher sought to make the British coal industry more efficient. In March 1984, Thatcher and the National Coal Board announced 20 mines would close, erasing 20,000 jobs.
Days after the announcement, 165,000 miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers, went on strike. Thus began a tense, year-long strike, where men would throw pickets — known as "flying pickets" — at pits where miners still worked at.
The strike grew violent during a confrontation at a coking plant in June 1984, when police and strikers through bricks and fought each other. In December, two strikers killed a taxi driver by hitting him with a concrete block intended for a working miner.
The strike eventually ended in March 1985, and is considered a victory for Thatcher and her Conservative Party. The event also shrunk the NUM's influence in politics, according to PBS.
Source: National Coal Mining Museum for England, BBC, PBS
Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Workers in banking, telecom and other industries protested Modi's economic reforms that scaled back labor laws and shut down some companies.
The strike caused state banks and power stations to close and public transportation to stop, according to The Guardian. Schools and colleges closed, hospital procedures were delayed, and railways halted.
Unions called for higher minimum wages and universal social security.
The one- or two-day strike is form of mass action that Indian workers have used with some regularity since the 1990s.
In January 2019, 150 million workers went on a two-day strike.
Source: Reuters, The Guardian
LM Otero/Associated Press
General Motors (GM) workers went on strike for 40 days on September 16, 2019. The strike, which ended up costing GM about $2 million, ended when the worker's representatives made a deal with GM.
The contract both parties ultimately agreed on included an $11,000 signing bonus for each member, performance bonuses, two annual raises and lump-sum payments, and low premiums for worker's health benefits. It also allowed GM to close three US factories.
The UAW went on strike again in 2023 after their contract with Ford, GM, and Stellantis expired on September 14. The UAW is looking for better wages and benefits after the big three automakers raised CEO pay by 40% over the past four years.
Amongst other requests, the UAW is asking for 36% raises over four years, an end to tiers of wages in factory jobs, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay, and the return of cost-of-living income raises.
Currently, 12% of UAW's workforce has joined the strike, approximately 18,300 people. As the strike continues without an agreement, the number could grow as the UAW calls for more closures throughout Detroit.
Source: NPR
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
On April 3, 2023, the Writers Guild of America asked its writers to vote on authorizing a strike. With a 97.85% yes vote, the request to strike had been approved.
The strike began on May 2, 2023, when the deadline for a new contract from the AMPTP passed. The WGA went on strike against the AMPTP in response to the new era of streaming and its negative effects on writers' compensation and working conditions.
The WGA asked for better conditions for their writers, transparency in streaming data, protection from AI, and better wages for writers.
After striking from May to September, 148 days total, the WGA came to an agreement with the AMPTP. The deal between the AMPTP and the WGA changes how writing will be done in the new streaming era.
It promises to pay writers residuals, protect intellectual property from AI, and change requirements for the minimum number of writers on shows and the duration of their employment.
The WGA's ratification vote will take place in October. In a WGA email to members, the deal was called "exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership."
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It marked the first time the two have been on strike together since the 1960s.
Of the 65,000 SAG-AFTRA members who cast a ballot, 98% voted to authorize a strike if no deal was reached by the July 12 deadline. On July 17, SAG-AFTRA went on strike, sharing many of the same concerns as the WGA surrounding streaming and AI's impact on their ability to work.
The strike has resulted in a star-studded picket line of actors looking for protection from AI, more consistent work, transparency in streaming numbers, and residual payment. During the strike, actors revealed to the public how little money they made in residual payments from popular streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu.
The strike is ongoing and has yet to conclude. Negotiators from SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are set to resume negotiations on October 2, 2023.
Áine Cain contributed to this report.
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