But if it works to get them the first raise in this scenario , how are they supposed to know when enough is enough ? Do you honestly think that the average wage worker knows the exact number that their labor is worth to the company ? How would they know at what point they are getting the best wage that they can without collapsing the company ? I take it you ' ve never been in a union ? You have leaders and are in constant communication with management . People who understand the numbers to at least a basic extent . If your random average worker wants to strike for an idiotic reason and put everyone else in the union out of a job then the strike vote isn ' t going to pass and work goes on as usual . If the worker decides to go on strike by themselves anyway and is somehow allowed to do this under the CBA then they ' re going to have a minimal impact on company operations and can safely be ignored until they are broke and need to come back to work . So at what point is a company allowed to hire or fire someone ? You seem to be in favor of allowing the government to dictate exactly under which terms people are allowed to work . Is this the end goal ? Government control of private business ? The government already has enormous control over private business regardless .