Dowbocop wrote:Yeah banning striking is a bad idea. However I've often thought that the act of striking itself damages the public, who are (a) probably fairly grateful to the work being done and (b) in no position to actually change things directly.
I think it's possible to have strikes without actually shutting down the service. As an example: teachers go on strike. Instead of shutting the gates and making parents take a day off, open the school as usual but have an end of term style go-slow. Make it clear to parents that their children will be safe as they are every day but they will not be taught National Curriculum stuff. Likewise, if a train union goes on strike, run the trains as normal, or at least a slightly reduced service. However, refund all the money taken from the machine to passengers' cards during the designated strike time, and give a refund to season ticket holders as you would under delay repay.
Keep the public onside but hurt your opposition.
These are already options, though, classified as actions short of striking (ASOS) and so are not really strike replacements, just alternative actions that could be taken, potentially before escalating to a strike.