I.

Introduction

Strike (labor relations), in labor relations, organized work stoppage carried out by a group of employees, for the purpose either of enforcing demands relating to employment conditions on their employer or of protesting unfair labor practices. In Europe and Asia, strikes have sometimes been called for political purposes. Strikes are conducted most frequently by workers organized into trade unions. A sympathy strike occurs when a union stops work to support the strike of another union. See Trade Union; Trade Unions in the United States.

II.

Types of Strikes

Workers may engage in a strike to obtain some improvement in the conditions of employment, such as higher wages or shorter working hours; to forestall an adverse change in the conditions of employment, such as a lowering of wages; or to prevent the employer from carrying out actions viewed by the workers as detrimental to their interests, such as the employment of nonunion labor or the discharge of a worker without adequate justification. Strikes may also be conducted with the aim of compelling an employer to recognize a labor union as the legal collective-bargaining representative of the employees, and to conclude a labor contract with the union. A strike is usually undertaken as a measure of last resort, adopted, for example, when the employer has rejected settlement of an existing dispute by methods provided for in a labor contract, such as negotiation or mediation. The political strike, on the other hand, may be used as a means of compelling a government to accede to certain demands of the workers, or as a revolutionary weapon designed to help secure the overthrow of a government.

III.

Strike Tactics

The principal tactical aim of all strikes is to achieve the total suspension of work within the employer's establishment. The most widely used secondary or subsidiary means of achieving this aim, invoked after the workers have quit work and left the business establishment, is the practice of picketing. Many labor unions maintain strike funds, which are used for the financial support of the strikers pending the settlement of the dispute. In some cases, striking unions appeal to other unions and to the public for financial support.

Striking workers almost invariably regard themselves as still in the employ of the establishment against which they are striking. They therefore tend to react bitterly to attempts made by employers to hire nonstrikers to replace them. Such attempts have often led to fierce fighting between the two groups as the strikers sought to prevent the nonstrikers' entrance into the place of employment.

According to the National Labor Relations Board, when a strike is carried out for the purpose of obtaining better conditions for employees, it is considered an economic strike. An unfair labor practice strike is one in which an employer has engaged in an unfair labor practice prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act. In an economic strike, the employer may seek to hire replacements and promise them permanent employment; the employer need not rehire those workers who have been replaced. In an unfair labor practice strike, however, the employer loses the right of replacement and is obliged to rehire those workers who were discharged during the strike and to discharge any replacements who were hired after the beginning of the strike.

A technique aimed at ensuring the suspension of operations within a struck establishment and at preventing the entry of nonstrikers is the sit-down strike, which came into widespread use in the U.S. during the 1930s. Workers engaging in this form of strike simply occupy the place of employment, refusing to leave until a settlement of the disputed issues is made. Such action constitutes trespass on the private property of the employer and is therefore illegal; nevertheless, the sit-down strike has proven highly effective in many instances.

IV.

Strikes in the U.S.

Very few strikes occurred in the U.S. before the American Civil War, chiefly because of the absence of large-scale industry and the lack of organization among the workers. The earliest recorded strike in the American colonies took place among the bakers of New York City in 1741, and a notable series of early strikes was conducted by the shoemakers of Philadelphia between 1792 and 1805.

A.

The Post-Civil War Period

After the Civil War, industrialization proceeded at a rapid pace; as the number of industrial workers grew, they began to conduct strikes with increasing frequency. The establishment in 1869 and the subsequent growth of the first federation of unions, the Knights of Labor, gave great impetus and assistance to the strikes conducted in 1877 by coal miners and railroad workers. Also accompanied by many strikes was the organization in 1886 of the American Federation of Labor, known as the AFL (see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations). Among the most bitterly contested strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were those conducted by steel workers in 1892; by bituminous-coal miners in 1894 and 1897 and anthracite-coal miners in 1900 and 1902; and by employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1894. Many of these strikes were marked by major outbreaks of violence; in the Pullman strike, for example, President Grover Cleveland sent U.S. Army troops to the scene to quell the rioting. The struggles of the workers in the clothing industry for union organization and improvement of working conditions were also characterized by many strikes; the leading union in this field, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (see Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees: International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union), one of the largest affiliates of the AFL, led the first strike in this industry, that of the shirtwaist workers of New York City in 1909-1910.

The earliest strike conducted by government employees in the U.S. was that of the Boston police in 1919. This strike was caused by the refusal of the Boston police commissioner to permit the police to affiliate with the AFL. For a brief period, the city of Boston was the scene of widespread rioting, which began after a majority of the police had left their posts. The strike was ultimately broken by Calvin Coolidge, then governor of Massachusetts, who brought the state militia into the city, took charge of the police force, and ended the strike agitation.

B.

The Injunction

After the use of the strike weapon had become frequent throughout the labor movement, one of the chief measures adopted by employers was the obtaining of court orders enjoining the workers from engaging in strikes in specified situations. Such injunctions were most commonly issued on the ground that the strike had resulted in damage to the property rights of the employer, or that damage was threatened, and that the employer was without any other adequate legal remedy. Eventually, the use of injunctions became so widespread as to constitute a threat to the rights of the workers. In 1932, therefore, the U.S. Congress enacted the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act, closely restricting the use of injunctions. The federal government took a further step in the direction of protecting the prerogatives of labor in 1935, when Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, which defended labor's right to organize freely and to bargain collectively, and defined as illegal many of the actions taken by employers in opposing strikes and other labor activities. See Injunction.

C.

Industrial Unions

One of the greatest waves of strikes in U.S. history occurred during the 1930s, as a concomitant feature of the nationwide organizational campaigns conducted in the period by the unions of the AFL and by the group of unions expelled from the federation in 1935, which later became the Congress of Industrial Organizations, known as the CIO. The major result of these strikes was the establishment of unions organized on industrial lines and legally recognized by employers in many of the basic industries of the nation, notably steel production, automobile manufacturing, shipping, electrical and radio equipment manufacturing, and rubber production. Many of these strikes, particularly those conducted in 1936-37 by rubber workers in Akron, Ohio, by automobile workers in Detroit, and by electrical workers in Schenectady, New York, were sit-down strikes. In 1939 the Supreme Court of the U.S. declared the sit-down strike illegal and asserted that employers need not reinstate workers who had engaged in such strikes. Soon afterward, a new type of job action was introduced by the automobile workers: the “slowdown,” whereby the workers remain on the job but drastically curtail their output.

D.

World War II and After

During World War II, both the AFL and the CIO agreed to a “no-strike” policy, in the interest of furthering the national war effort by maintaining production at a high level. Although this pledge was not kept inviolate and some strikes did occur during the war, their number and duration were negligible.

In 1946, after the conclusion of hostilities, a new wave of strikes broke out in the basic industries, particularly steel, automobiles, electrical equipment, and coal mining. In contrast to the strikes of the 1930s, which were primarily conducted for organizational purposes, these strikes were aimed principally at wage increases; in large measure, the strikers were successful in winning their demands. Demonstrations of the growing power of organized labor became a source of alarm to conservative political leaders. In 1947 the Congress, then dominated by a Republican majority, passed the Labor-Management Relations Act, popularly called the Taft-Hartley Act. This law defined certain actions of labor unions as illegal and in some respects curtailed the use of the strike weapon. It was denounced by almost all unions, and its repeal became a prime issue in political campaigns.

In recent years in the U.S., the most difficult problems regarding strike settlement have been posed by unions representing government employees. Despite legislation intended to make such strikes illegal, police, fire fighters, teachers, sanitation workers, transit workers, U.S. Post Office employees, and in 1981 air traffic controllers have struck. Methods of settling such strikes have proved largely ineffective, and an equitable solution of the problem remains an important goal in labor-management relations.

Statistics covering the number of strikes throughout the U.S. were first compiled in 1916. In that year, almost 3800 strikes took place, involving about 1.6 million workers. Subsequently, the number of strikes fluctuated widely from year to year. The year 1946 witnessed the greatest participation in strikes by workers; in that year about 4.6 million workers were engaged in almost 500 strikes. The late 1960s marked another period of intense strike activity, but the number and severity of work stoppages declined gradually in the 1970s and markedly during the recession of the early '80s. Throughout the 1970s, strikes by public employees were an exception to the general downtrend.

V.

Strikes Outside the U.S.

The use of the political strike has been relatively rare in the U.S. In other countries, however, such strikes have occurred numerous times, often with far-reaching effect.

A.

Russia

Perhaps the most significant wave of political strikes in all history is that which broke out in Russia in 1917, largely as a result of the revolutionary agitations conducted by the Bolsheviks. These strikes constituted a major influence in the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in March 1917, and later in the deposition by the Bolsheviks of the moderate government headed by Aleksandr Kerensky (see Russian Revolution).

B.

France

Frequent use was made of political strikes by the Communist-led Confédération Générale du Travail in France during the period between World Wars I and II, and by the Communist-led unions of both France and Italy after World War II. An attempt to bring down the government of President Charles de Gaulle was made by labor leaders and students in France in 1968. The strike, primarily directed against public economic policies, was unsuccessful in achieving its political aim, although economic improvements were gained.

C.

Canada

A nonpolitical strike of police and fire fighters in Montréal in 1969 was suppressed only after military forces were brought in to fight a sharp increase in crime in the city. In the last decade strikes by postal workers have disrupted the mails for long periods of time.

D.

Britain

Either economic or political purposes may be served by the “general” strike, wherein all workers in a city, country, or other geographical area strike simultaneously. The general strike is usually aimed at enforcing the demands of the workers through the complete paralysis of the economic activity of the affected area. General strikes have taken place in many countries at various periods. One of the greatest general strikes was that called by the British Trades Union Congress in 1926. Its purpose was to render support to the strike launched by the British coal miners on May 1 of that year. The general strike lasted nine days, during which the British economy was almost totally paralyzed. The strike was broken chiefly through the uncompromising opposition of the Conservative government headed by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. In 1927 Parliament passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, making general strikes illegal.

In 1971 the National Industrial Relations Act was passed, which made labor agreements legally binding and placed limitations on wildcat strikes but not on legitimate strikes. The law created the National Industrial Relations Court to settle disputes and to use the injunction when necessary to prevent injurious strikes. In 1984, however, Britain experienced a particularly long and bitter strike by the nation's coal miners.

For additional information, see biographies of individuals mentioned.