First, as the word strike we mean a strike which paralyses the function of an essential service in the society, for instance when there are no trains or there is no education. We are considering this selfish and destructive way of striking which is highly dangerous to the society.
It is destructive and dangerous because – like their name shows – these services are essential for the fonction of a society. We need hospitals to heal and to save people, schools to ensure the education of our children and airports to be able to travel far and fast and we need them all the time!
By paying taxes we have accepted to be part of a society and in change we are expecting from the State to protect us, to operate hospitals and schools, etc. In the very beginning man and State had made a deal and by shutting down these insitutions workers are hurting the virtual contract on which societies are built on.
Now let’s take a look in the more philosophical and intrinsic aspects of strikes.
We can say there are different kinds of strikes, but the only one which is relevant to this context is the strike made to protest against something. If we accept making strikes for any other reason, we risk of arriving in the catastrophic situation described below, where it would be a habit.
It’s true that many situations in the public service (and actually in all areas of work…) are not as good as they were supposed to be. There are people who work in bad conditions, who do not have an appropriate salary, and even who merit other benefices which don’t come because of the slowness of the public machine. We don’t deny these terrible situations, but think about what would happen if everyone who wants to make a changement took an extreme act like a strike…
We would literally put in the garbage hundreds of years of evolution in the way of treating problems, we would come back to the time of the “Law of the Stronger” (as the chance of stopping essential services makes those workers really powerful), and the world would become chaotic. Someone will certainly say that we should allow extreme protests (here included strikes) for extreme situations, but who is capable of judging what is extreme or not? The worst situation in many countries wouldn’t be even close to what we would find in African countries, so, what is really extreme?
Strike is an extreme way of protesting, it poses a lots of practical problems for people who have nothing to do with the subject. Strikers actually use this damage they will cause to everyone to bargain the government (who is expected to care about all people) to achieve their goals. The correct way to protest is with negotiations, and in case they don’t bring progress, they should make a mobilization to change the laws or to change the government in the next elections. Also, if workers start making strikes for a “good and important” reason today, who will convince them to not make the same thing at the next time, when the causes will not be as important as now? Who is going to prevent them of turning strikes a usual way of protesting? Maybe you, who are reading this now, have never been faced to a situation like this, but when strike becomes the usual way to protest, it’s really difficult to change people’s minds…
So, we think we have showed enough arguments to prove that strikes in essential services are not only problematic for society, but also an inconvenient way of trying to get what we want. So on, strikes in public services should be banned. Thanks for your attention, and VOTE FOR US!
HKFN and DS
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