COMING out on strike can seem a bit intimidating the first time that you walk off a job.

Perhaps your management is putting pressure on you to not take industrial action. They’ll tell you things like: “There’s no money available for a pay rise,” or “You’ll be striking yourself out of a job.” The usual bully-boy tactics. Yawn. See how quick they are to moan if they don’t get an increase themselves. 

The first rule of striking is to stick together. It doesn’t matter what management try and tell you if you are united in the workplace. 

They’ll try and pick people off to isolate them. Don’t let this happen. Tell your rep if you are being pressurised. Withdrawing your labour is your right and the strike will have gone through numerous anti-union hoops before you walk out on a date that the management will have already been notified of.

The second rule is to join your colleagues on the picket line. It can build a real sense of camaraderie to stand with the banners and signs of your trade union. 

You’ll be surprised how supportive members of the general public will be. Some may come and join you in solidarity, others may just honk a horn in support as they drive past. Bring a chair and a flask of tea or coffee. Talk to each other. It is character-building on the cobbles.

The third and most important rule of all is never cross a picket. There are various names for people that go in to work when their colleagues have voted to take industrial action, and none of them are flattering. 

If you are on strike it is because a majority have felt so strongly that they voted to withdraw their labour. Respect that majority vote and let’s all stay friends. Some will say that they can’t afford to lose a day’s pay — but neither can anyone else. You need to look at the bigger picture and consider what you are striking for.

Going out on strike is empowering. Sometimes it can feel like you are an insignificant cog in a bigger wheel at work and you can question the significance of your role. 

Wait until you see what happens when nobody is doing your job. It doesn’t work without you. Now add in all your colleagues — when you are out on strike, nothing gets done. That’s how important you are. That is your value. That’s why you deserve a decent wage.

Remember that coming out on strike is always a last resort after negotiations between your union and management have broken down — or the management have failed to engage in a sensible dialogue. 

It’s patently obvious that pay offers around the 3 per cent mark for workers that have received below inflation increases for over a decade now — in effect pay cuts — just aren’t good enough. 

Management themselves know that, however they try and dress it up. People in the media know that too, despite what they say — look at how quickly they’ve been shut down by union leaders just telling the truth and talking common sense in recent weeks.

With an economy seemingly designed for vast sums to be sucked out at the top and hidden away in offshore accounts to dodge the tax that would benefit us all, when the politicians are in the pockets of big business and with a “cost-of-living crisis” being driven by extortionate energy and food prices, being a member of a trade union has never been more important. 

This is how we hit back.