Back before the National Labor Relations Board unions were unregulated and collective action was unprotected. Unions were more like activist groups (think if BLM had a leadership structure and memberships). During strikes unions had to build solidarity and convince every worker to join. Strikers had to physically prevent scabs from entering the workplace, often with violence. Now it is simply illegal to scab. With today’s militarized police there is no way we could return to the era before NLRB and hope for success.
We can, and we should organize outside of unions, but the goal should ultimately be to form a union, and benefit from all the protections you get from having one.
It's important when talking about violence and unions, we have to also consider the other side, where police and private security use violence against workers.
Numerous strikes were "broken" by law enforcement, various "national guards", and "strike breakers" shooting into crowds of strikers. On multiple occasions 50 or more were killed, and hundreds injured.
Back before the National Labor Relations Board unions were unregulated and collective action was unprotected. Unions were more like activist groups (think if BLM had a leadership structure and memberships). During strikes unions had to build solidarity and convince every worker to join. Strikers had to physically prevent scabs from entering the workplace, often with violence. Now it is simply illegal to scab. With today’s militarized police there is no way we could return to the era before NLRB and hope for success.
We can, and we should organize outside of unions, but the goal should ultimately be to form a union, and benefit from all the protections you get from having one.