Faced with Donald Trump’s repeated declarations that he will refuse to peacefully leave office if the vote results don’t go his way, some unions are speaking up about the crucial role organized labor can play in defending democracy.

In late September, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka asserted that labor should “stand ready to do our part to ensure his defeat in this election is followed by his removal from office.” And on October 8, the labor council in Rochester, New York resolved to call “on the National AFL-CIO, all of its affiliate unions, and all other labor organizations in the United States of America to prepare for and enact a general strike of all working people, if necessary, to ensure a Constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 Presidential Elections.”

Whereas most union leaders these days remain tragically averse to talking about, let alone systematically organizing for, strike action, the Rochester Labor Council explained that “the most powerful tool of the Labor Movement in our history has been the power of the General Strike” and that “united working people refusing to work across the nation have a greater power than any political machinations of aspiring despots.”