APAD: cross the picket line

Crossing a picket line means entering a workplace while striking workers are

protesting outside, and it can be interpreted as a lack of solidarity with the

striking workers.

 

The act of crossing can be a personal decision with consequences, such as

disciplinary action from a union or being branded as a "scab" or

"strikebreaker".

 

- Google AI

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As an expat, I see things but I don't see them. They are projected onto my

retina but do not blip on my mental radar. What coming natural to the natives I

have to spend effort to just perceive. Only recently, for instance, had "cross

the picket line" cropped up in my bubble.

 

A few weeks ago, I read in "Downtown: My Manhattan" by Pete Hamill

   There was a sense among those working people, almost from the beginning, that

   you would do all right in New York if you followed the rules. Where I came

   from, the rules were relatively simple. Work. Put food on the table. Always

   pay your debts. Never cross a picket line...

   

Next, a Facebook friend urged on Red Cup Day "do not cross the picket line" in

supporting Starbucks's striking employees.

   

I've never had to cross that line but understand the dilemma the early Chinese

faced and, in a sense, the Chinese Exclusion Act was a response. My solution is

again to keep learning English.