The scale of the global social calamity wrought by coronavirus is becoming increasingly clear. As demand for many goods and services plummets, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits has soared into the millions. Even where governments have promised to prop up wages, as in Britain, not all workers will be covered — and even many who do will face considerable delays in receiving the money. Whole industries, such as tourism, hospitality, and entertainment, face outright collapse.

This is no normal environment for workers to bargain over their terms and conditions of employment. For trade unions, at least, successful collective bargaining typically relies upon buoyant labor markets as well as employers’ financial ability to engage in compromises. But unions’ position also depends on their ability to threaten — or actually take — effective industrial action to back up their demands. This means workers disrupting their employers’ operations, whether that involves largely economic disruption, as in the case of private capital, or political disruption, when their employer is the state.

During this crisis, there are two main forms of pressure on workers not to strike. The first is economic. Not only is unemployment soaring, but the promised wage bailouts do not extend to all, and many commercial organizations’ very existence is being put into doubt. Many workers will thus be unwilling to take actions which might be seen to risk their employment. “Better to be employed, no matter what, than be put out of work” will be their motto.