Strikes

Background

Although strikes have been occurring for centuries, the term was first used in the English-speaking world in reference to a group of London sailors who staged a series of demonstrations in 1768, crippling a fleet of merchant vessels by removing their sails as part of a dispute with the ships’ owners. Most strikes today are undertaken by labor unions as part of collective bargaining, the process through which an employer and a group of its employees endeavor to reach agreements regulating working conditions. Collective bargaining agreements set wage scales but may also set forth working hours, training opportunities and responsibilities, health benefits, safety procedures, overtime pay and procedures, grievance processes, and rights to participate in company governance. When the parties are unable to reach a collective bargaining agreement, unions sometimes use strikes as a last resort, stopping work when, or after, a labor contract expires. Collective bargaining agreements may contain a “no strike” clause, which means that no work stoppages may occur during the period for which the labor contract is in effect.

Strikes generally involve workers refusing to attend their jobs and may include a form of protest called “picketing,” in which striking workers gather outside their place of work with signs demonstrating dissatisfaction with their employer. Picketing may occur to increase public awareness of the strike, to place pressure upon the employer to bend to the wishes of the union, or to dissuade other workers from returning to work. In certain circumstances, workers may decline to strike, but instead “work-to-rule,” meaning they fulfill the minimum requirements of their jobs but no more. In the United States, private-sector employers and their workers’ unions are regulated by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Pursuant to the NLRA, strikes are designated to involve either economic issues or unfair labor practices. In the event of a strike involving economic issues, an employer may not fire striking workers but may permanently replace them with other workers. If a strike is over unfair labor practices, however, the employer may not replace employees who strike and must fire any employees hired as strikebreakers when the striking employees return to work. A general work stoppage involving multiple unions directed against the government is called a general strike. [Page 915]Strikes can be detrimental to both labor and management. Workers do not get paid during strikes and, under certain circumstances, can be replaced by other workers. These work stoppages can also be harmful to employers because they disrupt business and may drive customers to competitors. As a result, both unions and management may attempt to plan a strategy to deal with strikes, both before they are declared and during the work stoppage.

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