@djc So I’m no authority on this, but here’s my (perhaps flawed) understanding. Unions and labor actions aren’t just choices of private individuals. Unions, strikes, collective bargaining are activities foreseen, protected, but also defined, regulated, and circumscribed by law.

@djc There’s a law specifically pertaining to railroads that empowers Congress to impose an agreement and forbid a strike, on the grounds that the national interest in transportation is too strong to unconditionally allow the disruption that attends hardball labor negotiation. The law can’t enslave people. Anyone can quit their job. But it can forbid actions short of quitting that courts would recognize as attempts by labor to strike or exert pressure.

@djc So, people could be in jeopardy (criminal? civil? i don’t know) if a court finds them to be engaging in labor action. And legal strikes have state protection. Despite some interference and perhaps trespass, cops don’t break them up and businesses can’t go old-school with private security cracking heads. With an illegal strike, that protection would be gone, and the legalized, ritualized events we’re accustomed to could devolve to uglier forms of confrontation.