Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for a General Strike
October 19, 2025—Summoning people of all backgrounds to unite and take a stand against President Donald Trump’s “tyranny,” the “ultra-wealthy” and corporate greed, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “We are going to make them pay their fair share in taxes to fund our schools, to fund jobs, to fund healthcare, to fund transportation.”
“Democracy will live on because of this generation,” he proclaimed. “Are you ready to take it to the courts and to the streets?”
It was an audacious declaration from the mayor, who has risen to the top of Trump’s list of enemies as he resists the vicious immigration operations and arrival of hundreds of National Guards currently shaking Chicago.
There has never been a true, nationwide general strike in the United States, though a series of post-World War II work stoppages remembered as the “great strike wave of 1946” mobilized five million American workers demanding leaders to address economic instability and untenable working conditions.
In its aftermath, Congress cracked down with the Taft-Hartley act, a legislation prohibiting a broad range of union tactics, including calling for political strikes. The 1947 law is still in place, despite repeated attempts to repeal it.
While Taft-Hartley’s restrictions make it all but impossible for labor unions to orchestrate anything akin to a national general strike, it does not dictate how grassroots activists and coalitions could organize, as long as those efforts do not include the help of legally-recognized labor unions.
Johnson’s call to action made it clear he wasn’t afraid to stay in Trump’s crosshairs, weeks after the president demanded he be jailed in a post on Truth Social.
—Huffpost, Oct 19, 2025
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-general-