Forum Post: Is it possible to organize a no-work hour around the nation??
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 23, 2011, 5:02 p.m. EST by ckyoung
(9)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I think there are probably a lot of supporters out there who are not out in the streets of their towns/cities "occupying" but they might want to do something.
I was wondering if it might be possible to organize a large no-work hour where we ask supporters to just simply stop working for that hour (within reason, I guess). Particularly those who work for large (corrupt) corporations and government. This will ultimately stop commerce for a short period of time and should definitely get noticed by big corporations that count every minute of their employees' time.
I think at this point the movement is starting to get recognition from the general public and media. But I don't think the corporations and most of the politicians are taking it seriously. I think they think they can wait it out and that this will just fade away or defeat itself from the inside.
During that hour, I would ask those participating to do something constructive. Those who are religious/spiritually inclined might decide to pray or meditate. Maybe talk to co-workers who might be wondering why this is happening. Or just take a walk outside. It doesn't have to be a "demonstration" for it get noticed. If enough people stopped working for even a short period of time, it'll get noticed or sure!
How about a one day general strike, right before the Thanksgiving holidays
Looks like others are suggesting this also: http://www.legitgov.org/General-Strike-November-28-2011
@caterpillar -- That's why I initially suggested an hour... charge it to the companies as "down time". I used to work for a big company and we would charge "computer down time" if the system goes out and we couldn't do our work. But we were paid for that time.
Many corporations would actually MAKE money on a 1 day general strike. A relative of mine learned that the company he worked for shuttered the office, lowered heat and power and redistributed the production work. The company paid less in expenses and wages during the strike and it ended... poorly.
Looks like some folks want to do this Oct 28: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xV79ObObSh0 http://youtu.be/4ZflGB7p0Xc
@Teacher -- Thanksgiving is a great idea. What if it was two fold? 1) a general retain strike on Black Friday and then 2) a general (office) strike on the following Monday... people can even just decide to take vacation time.
About "general strikes"... yeah, most people don't have/get govt benefits so we can't just go striking... and most people wouldn't do it anyway in fear of loosing their job Iie if it's not a union job).
I worked for a big corporation. We used to track every hour we worked. They have a code for "computer down time". It gets tracked. And I'm sure they can easily count up how much productivity they lost.
My point is... how can we get more people involved in making a statement? And my thought is that boycotting or moving money out of big banks would be a way to hit the bottom-line. But so can lost of productivity.
It's called a "general strike." (always amazes me how Americans think they've invented everything themselves...)
Stop working Fridays. 4 day weeks mean's more jobs to go around.