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Comment by Wohlf | Hacker News Reader

Scabs are workers who cross the picket line, not customers. If you think boycotts are a good idea, ask the auto unions how well customers not buying cars worked out for their members.

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>Scabs are workers who cross the picket line, not customers.

That's not the way unions themselves use the word.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24904995/boston-union-ca...

"Boston union calls Yankees 'scabs' for crossing hotel picket line"

Only because it's a way to use and coöpt language for your cause, not because it's the way the public understands it. It's like AOC insunuating Pelosi racist. It's used for effect.

Or, imagine a nurses' strike, but I as a patient don't honor their strike, am I a scab?

If you're a patient for something elective that could be delayed until after the conclusion of the labor action then yes, you're a scab. For emergency care? Probably not.

A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. [Scabs] are usually individuals who were not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired after or during the strike to keep the organization running.[0]

The parent comment was absolutely correct in saying that you are trying to co-opt the actual definition to serve your goals, as the word has nothing to do with being a customer.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikebreaker

While you're correct about the meaning of the word scab, there doesn't yet exist a word with appropriately caustic undertones to describe the customer who continues to patronize a service whose workers are striking -- and so we typically use that word for both situations. Welcome to the party.

Customers boycotted Stop & Shop when workers went on strike earlier this year, and it worked out pretty well for the workers[1].

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/us/stop-shop-strike.html

Not the first time New Englanders have boycotted a supermarket chain either. When Market Basket ousted their president and voted to give the shareholders dividends rather than reinvesting in the company[1]. Though these workers wern't on strike they were protesting what they felt like was the first step of the company getting gutted and sold.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Basket_protests

Are you implying that the unions asked Americans to boycott cars that weren't foreign-assembled crossovers?

Your comment seems to not really make much sense since UAW and other unions are currently involved in calling for boycotts of Mexico-assembled GM vehicles.

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