strikes and telecommuting

[emchy]

so if you won't cross a picket line to go into your office
but you stay home and telecommute in
is it still crossing the picket line?

Comments

[jactitation.livejournal.com]

I would say yes, that's it's pretty much the same as going in the back door of a big complex where no one knows to picket, or being delivered by underground tunnel (all of which have been done in strikes I've been involved with).

As a UAW academic worker, I have respected picket lines by cancelling online office hours as well as exams. The picket line is a symbolic wall between workers and management over grievances; it is not merely a physical barrier.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

This depends on who is striking. When the security folks who watch building entrances were on strike in New York in the 1990s, I discussed the issue with the picketers. I was a consultant at the time, living in SF and traveling to NY for multi-week stints, and it would have been a huge problem for me to stay out of the office. They told me that all they were concerned with was what other union folks did--they weren't trying to keep the general white-collar crew out of the offices. That was a comfort to me, even though I still have some residual discomfort about having gone to work.

If I were you, I would ask picketers, or ask on the union's website.

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

thanks. I am asking in a big picture sort of way. i already have talked to the folks striking and know where i stand on it. but it's an interesting quandry.

[misterex.livejournal.com]

Strike action or work strike, mass refusal by employees to perform work for a corporation or public institution. my vote is yes.

you have the best avatars, btw.

[arlan-bishop.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's still definitely crossing the picket line. The idea, as far as I understand it, is a work stoppage.