Wildcat Strikes

Wildcats are so called from the nature of the type of strike they constitute—unpredictable, uncontrollable, [Page 1468]and irresponsible. These terms of description are supposed to be the characteristics of the wildcat. But, as with most characterizations of strikes and workers' actions, the terms of description used are not valueneutral. Rather, they reflect the dominant ideological discourses in society, and in terms of strikes and workers' actions, these terms of description are those of the most powerful social groups in society, namely, the employers, the media, and the state and not those of the workers themselves. So to the employers, the media, and the state, wildcats may be regarded as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irresponsible because such strikes pose a challenge to their interests and ideology. Put another way, such strikes interfere with their operation of their economic activities or contradict their social order.

The legitimacy of strikes per se has always been contested by the employers and the state because strikes represent a challenge to their authority, power, and interests. Ultimately, from the employer and state's points of view, strikes can be seen as the harbinger of an elementary form of workers' power and, thus, a new type of society, most frequently referred to as socialism or communism. Even if strikes do not have this potential, they do challenge the smooth daily running of individual capitalists' businesses. For the state, as an employer itself and as the guardian of the capitalist economy and the interests of capitalists, strikes represent the same challenge and disruption to the pursuit of its objectives.

Thus, for employers and the state, strikes that are organized and held without notice or warning are often the most damaging, because the element of surprise and unpreparedness are two of the key tools in the workers' armory creating bargaining leverage over the employer. Wildcats provide no opportunity for employers to preempt the action by dissuading workers from striking either by making threats to the livelihoods or pay or by persuading them that their grievances should be dealt with by negotiations, mediation, or arbitration. Looked at the other way around, wildcats are very useful for workers in the prosecution of their interests. They can preempt an employer's ability to withstand the collective action because they leave little latitude for replacement workers to be brought in or for stocks of produced goods or components to be built up or brought in from elsewhere.

Politically, wildcats have thus come in for concerted attacks by employers and the state. In Britain, the wildcat is often commonly also known as the unofficial strike, and this type of strike was famously portrayed in a reactionary way in the 1959 Boultin brothers' film, I'm Alright, Jack, in which the shop steward (or workplace union leader) Fred Kite, played by Peter Sellers, was depicted visually and ideologically as a “little Hitler”—a dictatorial, small-minded individual. In Britain, the United States, and other countries, wildcats are usually portrayed, unjustifiably, as the work of left-wing agitators who dupe workers into striking.

Wildcats are particularly useful for workers in a number of situations. The most obvious is when striking has an immediate and disproportionate impact on the number of workers taking part, as, for example, in transport (air, rail, road, sea), newspapers, letter and parcel delivery, construction, and vehicle manufacture. The immediate impact of the wildcat is strengthened because in these examples, the delivery of a service or product either is time sensitive or has no substitute. Sometimes, the service or product is perishable; for example, no one wants to buy yesterday's news. Often commercial contracts now stipulate specific times for service or project delivery, and failure to meet them results in financial penalties. This creates potential bargaining leverage. In the last 20 years, a variant of this vulnerable configuration of work systems has emerged through the use of just-in-time (JIT) production in which there are no supplies of stock at hand to withstand strikes (or breakdowns). Under JIT production systems, it is not only the immediate employer that comes under pressure but also the buyer of the components, as in the vehicle industry. Some of the ways in which work is organized, the strategic position of some groups of workers within work systems, and the nature of some products and services lend themselves more to the use of wildcats. The issue of perishability is also salient for workers, for often the issue that sparks the walkout, like a colleague's dismissal, will be lost to management through inaction unless immediately and forcefully challenged. Wildcats are often also used to [Page 1469]provide a quick and robust demonstration of workers' feelings on an issue or used at certain points during employer-union negotiations to apply a powerful form of pressure when management becomes intransigent.

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