Breaking the Law: Strike Bans and Labor Revitalization in the Red State Revolt

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the early 2018 statewide educators’ strikes in West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma illustrates the viability of a relatively neglected prescription for revitalizing organized labor: illegal strike action. Whereas the West Virginia and Arizona walkouts successfully ignored legal prohibitions on striking and won major concessions from the state, Oklahoma’s action was less successful in part because it remained on the terrain of legality. The experience of these three actions indicates that rank-and-file workers, union officials, and labor scholars should reconsider the labor movement’s prevailing strategy of working within the law.