Editing Sabotage (section)

== As industrial action ==
[[File:Picchetto sabotaggio stencil in Turin.jpg|thumb|Unauthorized stencil urging sabotage and [[picketing]]]]
At the inception of the [[Industrial Revolution]], skilled workers such as the [[Luddite]]s (1811–1812) used sabotage as a means of negotiation in labor disputes.

[[Trade unions|Labor unions]] such as the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) have [[Industrial Workers of the World philosophy and tactics#Sabotage|advocated sabotage]] as a means of self-defense and [[direct action]] against unfair working conditions.

The IWW was shaped in part by the [[industrial unionism]] philosophy of [[Bill Haywood|Big Bill Haywood]], and in 1910 Haywood was exposed to sabotage while touring Europe:
<blockquote>
The experience that had the most lasting impact on Haywood was witnessing a general strike on the French railroads. Tired of waiting for parliament to act on their demands, railroad workers walked off their jobs all across the country. The French government responded by drafting the strikers into the army and then ordering them back to work. Undaunted, the workers carried their strike to the job. Suddenly, they could not seem to do anything right. Perishables sat for weeks, sidetracked and forgotten. Freight bound for Paris was misdirected to Lyon or Marseille instead. This tactic – the French called it "sabotage" – won the strikers their demands and impressed Bill Haywood.<ref>Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 152.</ref><ref>Jimthor, Stablewars, May 2008</ref>
</blockquote>

For the IWW, sabotage's meaning expanded to include the original use of the term: [[Industrial Workers of the World philosophy and tactics#Sabotage|any withdrawal of efficiency]], including the [[slowdown]], the [[strike action|strike]], [[working to rule]], or creative bungling of job assignments.<ref>Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, pages&nbsp;196–197.</ref> [[File:I.W.W. "stickerette" or "silent agitator" quoting W.D. Haywood.tif|thumb|[[Industrial Workers of the World]] "stickerette" or "silent agitator"]]

One of the most severe examples was at the construction site of the [[Robert-Bourassa generating station|Robert-Bourassa Generating Station]] in 1974, in Québec, Canada, when workers used bulldozers to topple electric generators, damaged fuel tanks, and set buildings on fire. The project was delayed a year, and the direct cost of the damage estimated at $2 million CAD. The causes were not clear, but three possible factors have been cited: inter-union rivalry, poor working conditions, and the perceived arrogance of American executives of the contractor, [[Bechtel]] Corporation.<ref>Rinehart, J.W. ''The Tyranny of Work'', Canadian Social Problems Series. Academic Press Canada (1975), pp.&nbsp;78–79. {{ISBN|0-7747-3029-3}}.</ref>