Strike operations playbook

• Lawful strike or lockout only. Unauthorized stoppages put members and the local at risk. Stay inside the statutory path your staff representative confirms.
• The legal clock is elsewhere. Conciliation, strike votes, and No Board dates live on the Bargaining lifecycle guide. Do not announce a start date from this page.
• Public voice is Crisis comms. Who may speak, what never goes public, and how you answer management bait live on the Crisis Comms Guide.
• Individual files stay on the floor playbooks. Discipline, grievances, and duty of fair representation stay on Steward 101 and the grievance playbook. A stoppage does not pause those clocks.

• Names on paper. President, strike committee lead, picket captains, hardship contact, and spokesperson. A sticky note beats a hallway rumour.
• Local executive. Holds the political yes and no: whether to start, settle, or return. Can delegate the day; cannot delegate the decision.
• Strike committee. Runs the day: gates, rotations, hardship questions, and the standing brief captains carry. Reports to executive, not to the Facebook group.
• Picket captains. Run a gate. They know who is in charge, what is in bounds, and who to call. They do not negotiate with the employer at the fence.
• Nobody else promises. Money, return-to-work terms, and legal positions come only from the people named for those jobs. A well-meaning volunteer is still a leak.

• People. Enough captains for every gate and rotation, plus a backup for the first no-show. Write the phone tree on paper as well as a group chat.
• Places. Every gate location, a washroom plan, weather cover, and an indoor fallback if the employer or weather shuts a sidewalk.
• Money path. Know who runs strike pay if your parent union does, and who runs local hardship. Do not invent amounts or dates.
• Member reach. A way to reach every department and shift that is not an employer email list. Workplace mapping tells you who you will miss.
• Hardship path. One contact, one way to ask, one promise about when an answer comes. Members should not learn this in a comment thread on day three.

• Captain tote. Paper brief, phone tree, extra flyers, tape, markers, pens, a basic first-aid kit, and a printed washroom map. Phones die. The tote does not.
• Gate kit. Folding chairs or a bench, water, a sandwich board with the same gate name as the brief, trash bags, and a way to hold signs in wind. Name who packs it the night before.
• Weather. Rain, heat, and cold empty a line faster than a rumour. Tarp or umbrella, shade or a warm-up rotation, shorter shifts when the sidewalk is brutal.
• Food drop. One named drop at a named gate, with a time. A vague promise that someone will bring something is how lunch empties the live door.
• Signs and slogans. One demand from the brief. No member home addresses. No photos of people who did not consent. Captains collect extra signs so the line does not invent a second slogan.
• Paper beats a dead phone. Captains carry the brief on paper. Group chats are a backup, not the original.

• Count doors first. Walk the site with workplace mapping. Main entrance, side stair, loading dock, staff lot, contractor gate. Write the list on the brief. Your staff representative confirms where you may stand.
• Bodies on a live gate. A live gate needs at least three or four visible people so it looks like a line, not a pair of friends. One person at a door is a witness, not coverage.
• Shift length. Two or three hours is enough for weather and a washroom break. Four-hour shifts empty at the two-hour mark unless you built relief in.
• Relief math. Live gates times people per gate times (hours in the day divided by hours in a shift), then add about one extra person in five for no-shows. If that number is bigger than your turnout, you do not have enough people for that many gates. Close a door on paper, not by hoping.
• Lunch is a coverage hour. The employer will test the line at lunch. Stagger food. Never let every captain sit down at once.

Example. Twenty-four members, a twelve-hour day, three-hour shifts. That is four shift slots, so six people on the sidewalk at once. Staff the live gate at four and a skeleton side door at two. Do not pretend you have three full lines.

• Map the real doors. Staff lot, loading dock, side stair, contractor gate, late-night receiving. The front door is often the photo, not the traffic.
• Open earlier than they do. Captains in place thirty to sixty minutes before the first management cars and the first shift. A line that arrives at 7:00 for a 6:30 start already lost the door.
• Longer hold on the live door. If traffic moved to the dock, the committee moves people the same hour. Do not leave a photogenic empty main and a working hole.
• Public sidewalk, confirmed bounds. Stand where your staff representative says you may stand. A public sidewalk is not a private lot, a highway, or a driveway you do not control.
• Not a blockade. Do not chase vehicles, occupy a private lot, or block a highway. Captains de-escalate. Coverage is not a dare.

• Locations everyone can find. Same gate names on the captains’ brief, the strike page, and the notice at the entrance. Do not invent a prettier name that members cannot match.
• Rotations that hold. Start times, length of a shift, and who relieves whom. A line that empties at lunch is a line the employer will test.
• Accessibility and weather. Seating, shade or warm-up, washrooms, and a plan for members who cannot stand a full rotation. An uncomfortable line empties.
• Visitors. Allies, reporters, and politicians go to the captain first. The captain knows the bounds. Nobody gives a tour that becomes a confrontation.
• Standing brief. Who is in charge, what is in bounds, who to call for money, safety, or media. Captains carry this. The public schedule is a copy of it, not a separate creative product.

• Night-before walk. Walk every mapped door. Assign totes. Read the brief out loud. Name the backup captain. Confirm who opens thirty to sixty minutes early.
• Morning huddle. Who is missing, which door is live, what rumour is already on the sidewalk. Ten minutes. Then the gate opens from paper.
• Talking is a job. One demand, one hardship path, one spokesperson. Captains do not debate managers at the fence and do not guess strike pay.
• Chants have a captain. The captain starts, one demand, stop if a camera is baiting a dare. No slurs. Don't use copyrighted anthem lyrics — write a short original call-and-response your local owns.
• Flyers with a way back. Same facts as the brief. A QR code to the local strike page or Brand Kit website, not to a thread that will scroll away. Stack them in the tote.

The captain starts. One person, one demand. Stop if a camera is baiting a dare, if replacement workers are being baited, or if the chant slides into a slur. Do not paste someone else's anthem. Write three lines your local can own.

Print a stack with the same gate names, hardship path, and a QR code to the local strike page. Flyer Maker and QR Link Cards build that on a personal device. Website Template is the page the QR should open if you do not already have one.

• Ask people, not feeds. Captains and stewards call the people who are missing. A loud group chat with empty gates is a failure, not a success.
• Map who is missing. Use workplace mapping: department, shift, and who has not been seen. Do not assume night staff saw the morning post.
• Kill rumours in the huddle. Captains hear the rumour, the committee confirms or kills it, and one official FAQ carries the answer. Comment threads invent a second strike.
• Care is operations. Food, washrooms, weather, and dependents are why people can stay. They are not a branding opportunity.

• Two different purses. Strike pay, if it exists, usually runs through the parent union. Local hardship is a different fund with different rules. Do not mix them in public.
• Facts members can use. Who decides, how to ask, and when an answer comes. If the amount is not confirmed, say so. A delayed honest answer beats a cheerful guess.
• Keep a record. Who asked, what you said, and who authorized it. Public posts are not the archive.
• Do not argue eligibility in public. Send the member to the hardship contact. A comment-thread eligibility fight humiliates people and invents policy.

• Emergency first. If someone is hurt or in danger, follow emergency protocol. Do not film. Do not post. Comms wait until members are safe and leadership agrees on the facts.
• No dare posts. No livestreamed confrontations, no member home addresses, no challenges to cross the line on camera. Those posts put members at risk and help the employer.
• Same-hour escalation. Harassment, surveillance, or an injunction goes to president and servicing the same hour. Do not wait until the evening recap.
• De-escalate. Captains keep the line inside the brief. They do not chase vehicles, argue with replacement workers, or improvise a police strategy.

• One ask. Food, turnout at a named gate, or hardship support. A vague “show solidarity” leaves allies posting while the line stays thin.
• One coordinator. Allies talk to one named person. Five officers taking five different offers is how the committee loses the day.
• Same facts as members. Allies get the standing brief, not a special story. If it is not true for members, it is not true for a politician’s camera.

• Call first. Their strike coordinator names the gate, the time, and what they actually need. Do not convoy in unannounced with a banner they did not ask for.
• Named gate, named drop. Take people and food to the gate they named. A photogenic stop at the front door while their dock is empty is not help.
• Follow their captain. Wear your local so members can see who you are. Then take their brief. Their bounds, their hardship facts, their spokesperson.
• Do not speak for them. Reporters and managers go to the host spokesperson. A visiting president who just wanted to add a comment splits their command.
• Do not film their members. No livestream of their line, no faces without their consent process. You are a guest. Their photo rules apply.

• Internal rhythm. Committee, captains, and hardship: a short standing brief. Send it when facts change, and say so when they have not.
• Public rhythm. Sparse, approved, one channel of record. Crisis comms owns who may speak. This page does not set a posting quota.
• Captains before social. The people on the gate hear the facts before the Facebook group does. A public post that surprises captains is a split command.

• Names on paper. President, committee lead, captain, hardship contact, and spokesperson — with phones.
• Named gate. The same name on this brief, the strike page, and the notice at the entrance.
• Line kits packed. Captain tote and gate kit in the car that opens the gate. Packed the night before.
• Doors mapped. Main, side, dock, staff lot. Your staff representative confirmed where you may stand.
• Early open named. Who is on the live door thirty to sixty minutes before first arrival.
• Indoor fallback. Washrooms, weather cover, and where the line moves if the sidewalk closes.
• Hardship path. Who decides, how to ask, when an answer comes. No invented amount.
• Emergency and servicing. Who to call after 911, and who gets an injunction the same hour.
• Flyer stack with QR. Same facts as this brief. QR to the local strike page, not a group thread.
• Captains before social. The gate hears the facts before any public note.
• Visitors to the captain. Allies, reporters, and politicians go to the named captain first.
• Return watch named. Who tells members the line is down, and which steward watches the first shift back.

Same facts as the notice at the gate. Confirm the Act and your union's strike protocol with your staff representative before any stoppage.

• Last-day brief. When the line comes down, who tells members, and what they should do on the first shift. Same facts at every gate.
• First-shift-back watch. Stewards know who to call if a supervisor fishes for strike stories or changes an assignment overnight.
• No-retaliation routing. Discipline and sudden schedule changes go to stewards and the grievance playbook. Do not litigate them in the Facebook group.

1. 1. 5:30 — open the live door

   Captains on the side stair or dock thirty minutes before first management cars. The main door can wait. The hole cannot.

2. 2. 5:45 — captain no-show

   Backup captain opens the named gate from the paper brief. Committee lead is told once, not in a group thread of twenty.

3. 3. 6:00 — weather change

   Move to the indoor fallback already on the brief. Same gate name. Do not invent a new location in a chat that night staff will miss.

4. 4. 6:15 — employer flyer at the gate

   Captain collects one copy for the committee. Members are told to ignore it until the official note. Nobody debates the flyer with a manager at the fence.

5. 5. 6:30 — “Are we getting paid today?”

   Captain gives the hardship facts from the brief: who decides, how to ask, when an answer comes. No invented amount.

6. 6. 7:00 — committee confirms

   Ten minutes: weather move, flyer in the file, hardship script unchanged. Then one public note with the same facts. Captains already have them.

7. 7. 8:00 — the line is the meeting

   Rotations hold. Rumours go to the huddle, not the comments. Media is sent to the spokesperson.

• Split command. Two officers giving two briefs. Captains pick a side. Members pick a rumour. Name one committee.
• Promised money the local cannot pay. A number said out loud becomes policy. Use the hardship path. Do not guess.
• Empty gates, loud group. If the Facebook group is packed and the sidewalk is not, stop posting and start calling the people who are missing.
• Opened with the first shift. Management and replacement workers were already through the side door. Open thirty to sixty minutes earlier tomorrow. Name who.
• Empty side door. A pretty crowd at the main and a working hole at the dock. Move people the same hour.
• A guest speaks for the host. A visiting local giving interviews splits command and invents facts. Host spokesperson only.
• Public contradiction. Two official posts with two facts. Stop public posting until executive and the committee align on one correction.
• Wildcat drift. A gate that just stays after a return order, or a department that walks without a mandate, puts members at legal risk. Call servicing the same hour.
• Return with no steward watch. The stoppage is not over because the graphic came down. First-shift retaliation is a grievance job, not a recap post.

• Not the Crisis Comms Guide. Who may speak, photo consent, and management bait live there. This page runs the line.
• Not the bargaining clock. Strike votes, No Board, and ratification live on the Bargaining lifecycle guide. Do not announce dates from here.
• Not a green light for wildcats. Unauthorized stoppages put members and the local at risk. Stay inside the statutory path your staff representative confirms.
• Not a blockade manual. Do not block a highway, occupy a private lot, or chase vehicles. Your staff representative confirms lawful picket bounds.
• Not a national strike protocol. Your union may have its own strike manual, pay rules, and legal team. Follow those. This page does not replace them.

• Crisis comms. Who may speak and what never goes on a public channel.
• Bargaining lifecycle. How a unit reaches a lawful window — votes, No Board, ratification.
• Captains' standing brief. Print the fill-in sheet above. Captains carry paper; the public schedule is a copy of it.
• Workplace mapping. Who is missing by department and shift. Count the real doors.
• Flyer Maker. A gate flyer with the same facts as the brief, on a personal device.
• QR Link Cards. Pocket cards and flyer QR codes that open the local strike page, not a thread.
• Website Template. The page the QR should open if the local does not already have a strike page.
• Photo consent. Faces on the line need a checklist, not a hope.
• Board Notice Maker. Print the standing brief for the gate — same facts as the strike page.
• Email and outreach. A durable note members can find later, not a thread that scrolls away.

• Excel + CSVPicket roster and sign-in sheetSchedules picket shifts by location and records sign-in times for strike pay.See the template