There’s a lot of jurisprudence around firing someone for striking if it’s a union affair. The way Reddit has started going nuclear replacing mods is exactly like union-busting minus the union.

It might be easier to show/argue some sort of business relationship between mods and reddit if there’s a formal union. Who knows if it would stand up in court, but imagine if reddit got hit with an injunction regarding forcing a big sub to reopen. A dozen more of the biggest subs might close immediately in solidarity.