Strikes ….. Are these socially justified ?

Strike is the manifestation of continuing struggle for power between classes over the distribution of

resources . The strike as a form of protest owes its origin to the stresses accumulating up in the hearts of the workers who were not treated as human beings but as beasts of burden , rightly comparable to an ox in p lough . If the master wants work from it , it must work . It cannot protest . This situation along with poor wages and unsuitable working conditions agonized the industrial workers in the early 19 th century : workers united at a clarion call of Karl Marx : “Workers of the world  unite , you have nothing to loose but chains”

 

The worker thus united began to negotiate and bargain for the restoration and implementation of their rights . Freedom of expressions being guaranteed in most of the democratic countries of the world , any person after his failure to get justice , is legally equipped to express his anger and differences of opinion by resorting to the last weapon of collective bargaining termed as strike . But what are the benefits of a strike to the economy and the society ? Does the worker really gain anything out of it ?

 

It is the society which is the loser almost every time . The strike could be in factory , hospital , electricity department  and water supply departments, universities or government departments . The strikes are generally accompanied by violence . They push back the economy , causing hardships for everybody . As such strikes are not for the benefit of either the workers or the society .

 

 

Strikes hurt the national economic growth and productivity . The workers remain without work and resort to antisocial activities like drugs , arson and theft. The frustration in their minds manifests itself in the form of destruction of public property and even traumas at home . The total societal and economic mechanisms break down . This is not a healthy sign for a developing nation like ours . Strikes lead to colossal wastage of man hours and resources of our country . Thus strikes should be banned altogether.  

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