By Sasha Park · Originally reported by Richard Horgan (2010) · Wayback archive →
In late November 2010, LA playwright and former union representative David Macaray published a Dissident Voice essay arguing that the term “replacement worker” — the media-neutral phrasing for someone hired to do a striking employee’s job — was a deliberate vocabulary-shift that softened what was happening. The older term, “scab,” carried moral weight; “replacement worker” carried none.
Then
Macaray’s piece argued that the media’s adoption of “replacement worker” in the post-1980 period had aligned with the broader weakening of organized labor’s position in U.S. workplaces. The Reagan-era PATCO firing in 1981 was, in his framing, the inflection point.
Now
The vocabulary fight has not been resolved. “Replacement worker” remains the standard journalistic framing in U.S. strike coverage. The broader U.S. labor environment has shifted across the years — the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes produced significant trade-press attention; the 2024 Teamsters and longshoremen disputes, the broader UAW activity across the auto industry, and the renewed teacher organizing have all created moments when the framing has resurfaced. David Macaray continued writing across labor-press venues for years.