Strike

The collective action in which employees do not come to work as a form of protest. That is, in a strike, workers deprive employers of their services. Often, though not always, strikers also stand outside their workplace to stage protests. A strike occurs when employees wish to force the employer to pay them better wages or benefits or to improve working conditions. Strikes are usually orchestrated by a union.

strike

a stoppage of work by a group of workers as part of an INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE with the aim of bringing pressure to bear on the employer. In the UK most strikes arise out of disputes over pay and conditions of employment. In the UK strike activity is normally measured in three ways: the number of stoppages, the number of workers involved, and the number of working days lost per 1000 employees. Of these the best indicator of ‘strike proneness’ (i.e. how likely workers are to take industrial action) is the number of working days lost per 1000 employees, because it captures more of the intensity and extent of stoppages than the other indices.

Strikes are generally both a protest and an attempt to secure concessions from employers. Their effectiveness is premised on the costs of a loss of output and the damage of relationships with suppliers, customers and employees that a stoppage of work can result in. However, strikes are costly to employees too since they usually suffer a loss of earnings for the duration of the stoppage. Employees therefore often take alternative forms of INDUSTRIAL ACTION, such as overtime bans, which are considerably cheaper. The conduct of strikes by unions is regulated by LABOUR LAW in the UK. A postal ballot of employees must be held, and employers must be given advance notice of the strike, for the strike to be lawful (and hence TRADE UNION IMMUNITIES to be retained). SECONDARY ACTION is unlawful.

strike

a stoppage of work by a group of employees as part of an INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE, with the aim of bringing pressure to bear on their employer. Strikes may be ‘official’ or ‘unofficial’, the former being backed by the employees’ TRADE UNION. Strikes often are a last resort tactic when negotiated attempts (see INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS) to agree pay levels and working conditions and where other forms of INDUSTRIAL ACTION (for example, overtime bans, ‘go-slows’, ‘work-to-rules’) fail to achieve the desired results. See EMPLOYMENT

ACTS 1980,1982,1988 and 1990, TRADE UNION ACT 1984, TRADE UNION REFORM AND EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS ACT 1993. See LOCKOUT, PICKET.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

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