Belly,
That's all political and cultural theory. It belongs on the middle shelf of some emeritus Professor of Modern History.
Neither the Strikers, their leaders, the government nor the public are interested in ideological definitions of what a "strike" is. If you've got to get the train to work and there aren't any then you don't care if it is being described as an employer/employee dispute or a piece of "political opportunism" all you know is that you can't get to work.
There is absolutely no point in withdrawing your labour if it goes unnoticed. To reiterate Duke's example about the "paper clipper", no inconvenience there to anybody(probably only to the paper clipper) so who cared? Exactly!
If all the collar and tie local government officers went on strike for a month who'd notice apart from their own families but if the binmen went on strike - that's different - why? Public Inconvenience. It is a major component of any succesfull labour dispute.
However, I think Bob Crow knows all this, don't you?