The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Highlight

No strike—at least none with a high chance of success—is a solo operation. The web of support for Local 364’s strike in Portland stretched wide. The Portland DSA staged rallies. Sympathetic residents came to bolster the picket lines and did some of the things that the union members themselves couldn’t, for legal reasons. Some blocked the buses full of scabs. Others used creative tactics to stop the delivery trucks bringing ingredients into the plant, like the guy who pulled his own truck into the road, blocking it, and then proceeded to change his “flat” tire with great sluggishness. Other unions joined the picket line, and donated money, and showed solidarity in more direct ways. Truck drivers who were members of the Teamsters would sometimes pull up to the plant, see the picket line, make a phone call to their own union, and then turn around and leave without making their delivery. BCTGM set up a small picket location by the railroad tracks specifically to target the delivery trains, and Railroad Workers United touted an incident when a train conductor spotted the picket line, stopped, and put the train in reverse.