I see in the causes of General Strike that the level of trade unionist membership affects it, but I can’t find where that is implemented in the .csv files. I think the effect of low membership is absurd. It should be nigh unpossible to have a general strike, and very difficult to have a limited strike like Rail Strike, with zero or even just low union membership. A strike is a coordination problem, and without a strong organization to solve that coordination problem, strikes don’t work so great. The incentive for any individual striker is to just work for what they can get, etc, etc. Anyway, how on earth can I change the effect of union membership on General Strike? It is so mind boggling to me to have zero union members and still be suffering continual, crippling strikes.
Ok, so I think I found it in an override from a mod. Anyway, what I think I should do is make unionist_freq effect on general strike = 8(x-.5)^3. That function is -1 at 0, and 1 at 1. It also has a flattened bit near .5. I think that curve nicely approximates my crude understanding of what union membership should do to overall union power to stage strikes.
This did the trick. General strikes are possible with moderate membership, probable with high, and unlikely with low membership.
[override]
TargetName = “GeneralStrike”
HostName = “TradeUnionist_freq”
Equation = “0.00+8.00*(x-0.50)^3”
Inertia = 0
I think I’ll add a function like this for the other strike types, with a lower number instead of the 8, depending on how likely I think unorganized workers in a given industry are to be able to strike without a union.