Why don't they start with nonessential personnel like bureaucrats?
This reminds me of a time I remember some years back when I was still living in Minnesota, and virtually all State employees went on strike.
There were some problems at U of MN, where students had longer lines to stand in as they were trying to sign up for classes, but aside from that . . . firemen kept fighting fires, policemen kept policing, ambulances and hospitals kept running, roads kept being fixed, electricity and water stayed on, schools stayed open, (notice that most of these are not STATE employees!) . . . the services people actually want kept operating.
In short, if not for stories on the nightly news about the strike, most people
wouldn't have noticed.The union settled as this began to be pointed out in letters to the editor, local radio call-in shows, etc.