Strike

A strike is “a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in
combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under common understanding of any

number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept
employment”
P. H. Casselman says that a strike is “a voluntary stoppage of work on the part of a body of
workers, by common agreement, or by order of their union usually for the purpose of
obtaining or resisting a change in the conditions of employment. The strike is labour’s
strongest weapon against the employer and is the counter weapon of the LOCK OUT.”
Forms of strikes
Strike – Primary Strike, Secondary Strike and Other Common Types
Strikes are often classified on some distinct bases such as their purpose, coverage or
technique used. In many cases, the forms specified on separate bases overlap, and it
becomes difficult to identify the base on which the classification has been made. To avoid
confusion and ensure easy understanding, it appears desirable to present a brief description
of more common forms of strikes highlighting their basic features.
Cessation means stoppage for trade unions; strike is the most powerful weapon for forcing
the management to accept their demands.
Strikes can be divided into two categories.
They are:
1. Primary strikes – Primary strike is done by workers when they have a dispute against
their employer.
2. Secondary strike – In secondary strike employees remain in and occupy the employer’s
premises as a protest and means of forcing compliance with demands.
1. Primary Strike:
The primary strikes are:
i. Economic Strike – Most of the strikes of workers are for more facilities and increase in
wage levels. In economic strike, the labourers demand increase in wages, travelling
allowance, house rent allowance, dearness allowance and other facilities such as increase in
privilege leave and casual leave.
ii. General Strike – It means a strike by members of all or most of the unions in a region or
an industry. It may be a strike of the workers in a particular region of industry to force
demands common to all the workers. It may also be an extension of the strike to express
generalised protest by the workers.
iii. Stay-in Strike – In this case, workers do not absent themselves from their place of work
when they are on strike. They keep control over production facilities. But do not work. Such
a strike is also known as ‘pen down’ or ‘tool down’ strike.
iv. Slow Down Strike – Employees remain on their jobs under this type of strike. They do
not stop work, but restrict the rate of output in an organised manner. They adopt go-slow
tactics to put pressure on the employers.
These are some of the primary strikes.
2. Secondary Strike:
The secondary strike is:
i. Sympathetic Strike:
When workers of one unit or industry go on strike in sympathy with workers of another unit
or industry who are already on strike, it is called a sympathetic strike. The workers of sugar
industry may go on strike in sympathy with their fellow workers of the textile industry who
may already be on strike.
ii. Boycott:
The workers may decide to boycott the company in two ways. Firstly by not using its
products and secondly by making an appeal to the public in general. In the former case, the
boycott is known as primary and in the latter secondary. It is a coercive method whereby the
management is forced to accept their demands.
iii. Picketing:
When workers are dissuaded from work by stationing certain men at the factory gates, such
a step is known as picketing. If picketing does not involve any violence, it is perfectly legal.
The management uses its own methods to counter the workers, which are as follows:
According to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, “lockout means the closing of a place of
employment or the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ
any number of persons employed by him”.
Other Common Types of Strikes:
1. Authorised Strike:
A strike called by proper authority in a union and in conformity with the requirements of
law.
2. Unauthorised Strike (Wild Cat Strike):
A strike called by a section of workmen without authorisation from the union and often in
defiance of the direction of the competent authority in a union. It also represents “a
rebellion on the part of rank- and-file membership against the union leadership or rebellion
by a part of the membership against the total membership.” Such strikes were very common
in the U.K. during 1960s.
3. Particular Strike:
Particular strikes are limited in scope and are confined mainly to a particular establishment,
a group of establishments in the same industry, a particular industry or employment, a
company, a single trade or occupation and so on. Most of the strikes called in furtherance of
industrial disputes fall into this category.
4. General Strike:
A general strike has a very wide coverage, but the degree of generality and coverage vary
considerably from strike to strike. There may be a general strike covering a wide range of
industries and employments and a vast region of a country. Examples of general strikes
having a very wide coverage are the General Strike of 1926 in the UK and the French
General Strike of 1938.
5. Sympathetic Strike:
A sympathetic strike is called in sympathy for the cause of workers in other establishments
with which the strikers do not have any immediate grievance. A call for sympathetic strike
is given to express solidarity with other workers and to induce their employer to resolve
their dispute promptly.
6. Slow-Down Strike or Go-Slow:
In this type of strike, workers do not stop their work, but slow down the pace of operation.
Such a strike is generally launched at a time when the employer is most vulnerable to the
effects of slow-down. Slowdown or go-slow has been a common feature in the sugar
industry during crushing season and in the docks during urgent pressures for unloading
goods from ships.
7. Sit-Down Strike:
Such a strike is usually resorted to in offices. To put pressure on the management, the
employees remain seated, pretend to be working, but at a very slow rate or ceasing work
altogether.
8. Jurisdictional Strike:
Jurisdictional strikes are related mainly to jurisdiction of rival unions. They are conducted
with a view to pressurising the employer to recognise one union instead of another claiming
to be the real representative of the workers. Such strikes were common in the USA,
especially in respect of rival claims of craft unions.
9. Token Strike:
Token strike is resorted to for a short period such as a day or two to give the employer a
warning of the likely wider form of confrontation if their demands’ are not promptly
conceded.
References
Ackers, Peter; Wilkinson, Adrian, eds. (2003). Understanding Work and Employment: Industrial
Relations in Transition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-924066-1.
Commons, John R. (1919). Industrial Goodwill. New York: McGraw-Hill Book

Company. OCLC 429243. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
Hyman, Richard (1975). Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction. London: Macmillan.
Kaufman, Bruce E., ed. (2004). Theoretical Perspectives on Work and the Employment
Relationship. Champaign, Illinois: Industrial Relations Research Association. ISBN 978-
0-913447-88-8.
Kelly, John (1998). Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long Waves.
London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-18672-8.

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A strike is “a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in

combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under common understanding of any

Strike – Primary Strike, Secondary Strike and Other Common Types

Strikes can be divided into two categories.

The primary strikes are:

These are some of the primary strikes.

The secondary strike is:

Other Common Types of Strikes:

2. Unauthorised Strike (Wild Cat Strike):

6. Slow-Down Strike or Go-Slow:

Commons, John R. (1919). Industrial Goodwill. New York: McGraw-Hill Book

Hyman, Richard (1975). Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction. London: Macmillan.

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