what is a strike?

     A strike means a refusal to work. People employed in one factory, or in one industry, decide together, usually as a "union" to refuse to work unless their employers meet the strikers' demands. The strikers may want better pay, but they might also want safer working conditions. Strikes after someone has been killed or seriously injured on a job were once common. We have better labor safety laws now, but people sometimes still strike over safety issues.
     It hasn't always been legal to strike in the United States--or to form a union. No one could make the strikers go back to work, but any demonstration, including peaceful picketing, might have been countered with violence--both official and unofficial. Employers might hire roughnecks to fight with the strikers--then the police would be called. The US Army has been used to disperse striking workers. So it hasn't always been about a pay raise.
    Now we have a law that permits workers to form unions and to bargain collectively. This law is from the 1930's. Before that, unions were considered subversive and dangerous. If workers went on strike, they might have all lost their jobs to people hired to fill in until the strike was over--often called "scabs" by the workers.
    A "general strike" means all of the workers go on strike in support of one another. This has happened in England, but not in the United States, although separate unions here sometimes support one another when one union is on strike. The 'General Strike of 1919' is on that you can search if you want to read more. London's workers--called "labor" tried to bring the city to halt. Young ladies and gentlemen supposedly helped "break" the strike by driving the trolleys and delivering the mail.