I didn't dismiss the question. I a) didn't see the direct relavence to the particular issue we were talking about at that juncture (the reaction of some of the left to the strikes) and b) objected to the loaded nature of it. It's hardly an attempt at asking a balanced and neutral (as far as possible) question is it? It assumes a negative state of affairs (i.e you beat your wife) and asks how many others that applies to today (how many of you also beat your wife?).
There are just far too many issues and questions jumbled up in this - for starters, unions are an integrative institution in contemporary capitalism, they're neccesarrily reformist and dependent upon the continuing functioning of capital, so their role is in part to support one capital in its competion with other capitals in order to benefit their own members - is this nationalist if the other capitals are from another state? Should they give up their defence of their own members in the name of a higher principle? Should the members of the union in the competing company? Should support only be given to those who reach the requisite awareness - decided by who and on what basis? External parties? Why?
Which brings us to another issue the unions, the left and the w/c are three seperate things, there is significant (but nowhere near total) overlap in the case of unions and the w/c but only really in that case - so all the comments that have been slipping between the strikers, the w/c and the left have been serving to muddy the picture IMO.
Questions about how far the strikes were nationalist, or how backward some strikers are not what people should be concentrating on here. They are the wrong questions. The right questions concern how the class logic of the conflict opened up space (and had to open up space) for a leftward movement and how rthis will play out in the future and ongoing disputes, why they took place in these particular industries and so on, why thousands of workers were prepared for the first time in years to openly flout anti-union laws and why no one was able to do a damn thing about it, how direct worker-to-worker contact outside of the usual official union channels spread the strikes nationally and so on These are the important things, the things we need to be clear on. Not all this rubbihs about nationalism or racism.