Last month, bus drivers in Okayama, Japan began an unusual work action. They didn’t walk off the job or stop driving their bus routes, and they continued to pick up passengers as normal. But, in a subversive twist, they covered their fare collection boxes and refused to take money from those who boarded. Riders would still get where they needed, but the company would not profit from the trip — with the drivers unilaterally imposing free fares for all.

In the United States, teachers on the picket line this spring have set a high bar for militancy, showcasing the importance of the conventional strike. Whether in West Virginia or Oklahoma, North Carolina or Kentucky, these red-state teachers have provided an inspiring example of how working people can use well-planned collective actions to demand respect and win gains previously considered out of reach. There is no doubt that if the US labor movement is to reverse its declining fortunes, it must revive the strike as a feared and frequently deployed tactic.

Yet for a variety of reasons, it is not always possible for a workplace to pull out a majority of employees for a prolonged strike. Facing inhospitable organizing environments and hostile labor law, those organizing their coworkers must often look to other methods to foster unity and demonstrate their power. Sometimes, the tactics they use end up being more than inferior alternatives to striking — and instead serve as pointed assertions of control over the processes of labor.