strike

Stoppage of work by employees, often as members of a trade union, to obtain or resist change in wages, hours, or conditions. A lockout is a weapon of an employer to thwart or enforce such change by preventing employees from working. Another measure is work to rule, when production is virtually brought to a halt by the strict following of union rules.

Strikes may be ‘official’ (union-authorized) or ‘wildcat’ (undertaken spontaneously), and may be accompanied by a sit-in or work-in, the one being worker occupation of a factory and the other continuation of work in a plant the employer wishes to close. In a ‘sympathetic’ strike, action is in support of other workers on strike elsewhere, possibly in a different industry. A general strike is action by members of several key industries, that aims to halt a country's economic activity. See also industrial relations.