Is it immoral to cross a picket line?

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Pretty much what it says on the tin. I just got scolded for ordering something from Amazon when there’s a strike in the offing, so I’m wondering what the moral dimension to this is.
 
No, it is not immoral in general. People can organize and strike if they choose. You can choose to honor it or ignore it if you choose. Just beware that some strikers will go to extremes to interrupt a business, so be careful.
 
QuizBowlNerd said:
Pretty much what it says on the tin. I just got scolded for ordering something from Amazon when there’s a strike in the offing, so I’m wondering what the moral dimension to this is.
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You would need to accept a job with them to be crossing the picket line. To some extent, placing orders only increases the worker’s leverage when they do strike.
 
do_justly_love_mercy said:
That’s not crossing a picket line. To cross an picket line of striking Amazon employees you would have to be an Amazon employee.
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If I were in need of a job, I’d happily take one with Amazon and replace one of the current strikers. If that’s immoral, then wanting to put in an honest day’s work must be immoral.
 
Workers are entitled to strike. Going on strike isn’t shirking an honest day’s work. What you are talking about is strikebreaking. I would say that that is immoral.
 
Surely strikebreaking undermines the union’s bargaining power. If the National Union of Widget Makers is on strike demanding $15 per hour and a 7-hour working day, and I take a job at the widget factory on $10 per hour, working a 12-hour shift, doesn’t that undermine the demands of the existing workers?
 
That doesn’t make it immoral.

A good argument can be made that many labor unions have long ago veered into the realm of 1) protecting undeserving members from conduct that would otherwise have led to justified firings; and 2) demanding wages, benefits, etc., to such an extent that their employer can’t do business anymore and winds up closing.
 
I would say that if you know that a company has policies that take advantage of its workers, and you disagree with that company’s policies, then it may be immoral for you to shop there, whether or not the workers are striking.
Why not send a letter to the CEO that you want to buy a table lamp from Amazon (or wherever), but you feel like his policies are harmful to their workers, so you will buy it locally, or from some other retailer.
Maybe Bezos won’t care, but at least you’ll have a clean conscience.
 
I’ve done it.

Sort of…

A couple years ago a local school district teachers’ union went on strike. The nurses contract was tied into the teachers contract.

So, the schools were closed, but the district implemented an all-day Cares for the students whose parents had to work.
They needed a nurse on site, and my staffing agency sent me.
This was a district where the sub nurses were contracted to an agency rather than to be district employees .
So in one sense, I didn’t take anybody’s job away.
But in another sense, I was working and the district nurses weren’t.
(But on the other other hand, they would get their pay retroactive after the strike ended).

Judge me.
 
Sure, one is entitled to exercise one’s conscience with regard to the fairness of the union’s demands. If the Bus Drivers’ Union (Podunk Branch) has already negotiated with Podunk City Council for $50 per hour for a 30-hour working week with 10 weeks’ paid vacation per year, and they are now striking for more money, shorter hours, and longer vacations, you would be entitled to think that they are trying it on at the expense of the citizens of Podunk. That is not what most unions are doing. Most workers only go on strike because they have genuine grievances about pay and conditions.
27lw said:
if you know that a company has policies that take advantage of its workers, and you disagree with that company’s policies, then it may be immoral for you to shop there
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That is a very good point. I certainly know people who have been boycotting Amazon for years for one reason or another.
 
Why would it ever be moral to force people to support a workers strike?

It is a matter between the workers and their management. Others may or may not agree, but it is certainly not a moral imperative.

Without further information, there is no way to claim moral support.
 
No union goes on strike because it’s happy with management - but that doesn’t mean its unhappiness is appropriate or for that matter morally correct.

I know of a union that uniformly wants an 18% pay raise annually for the next 5 years. Many unions - particularly the powerful ones like the teamsters - have adopted zero-sum, “I’d rather you lose than I do” negotiating tactics where they’d prefer to drive employers bankrupt than accept less than their sometimes exorbitant demands.

It is also dangerously naive to ignore most powerful unions’ historical links to organized crime.

My point is that it is not immoral to vehemently oppose unions, and that it is certainly not immoral to cross a picket line as an employee or to dishonor a picket line as a consumer.
 
While the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church remarks on the importance of unions and the right to strike, it also says violence is not justifiable in the case of a strike. In that sense I don’t see how it would be immoral to cross a picket line. That said it can be dangerous in real world circumstances if you were physically crossing a picket line.
 
If you have an opportunity to work a job that allows you to pay the rent and feed your family, but it requires crossing a picket line, which is immoral? Choosing to provide for your family or choosing to support a union? I’d choose my family first.
 
FiveLinden said:
Um, the union represents you and your family, and the other workers and heir families.
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Not if I’m not a member of it, not if it prevents me from supporting my family, and not if it supports positions that I’m opposed with.

I’ve seen enough union nonsense to know that it can be immoral to not cross the line.
 
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It’s interesting to me how the individualistic take on unions, as regards self interest, conflicts with the inherently self interested goal of unions.

Anyway, I’m a member of a union. No option of being one or not where I work. It has it’s good and bad parts.
 
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