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verb

1. To deliver a powerful blow to suddenly and sharply: bash, catch, clout, hit, knock, pop¹, slam, slog, slug³, smash, smite, sock, swat, thwack, whack, wham, whop. Informal biff, bop, clip¹, wallop. Slang belt, conk, paste. Idioms: let someone have it, sock it to someone. See attack/defend, strike/miss.
2. To set upon with violent force: aggress, assail, assault, attack, beset, fall on (or upon), go at, have at, sail into, storm. Informal light into, pitch into. See attack/defend.
3. To bring great harm or suffering to: afflict, agonize, anguish, curse, excruciate, plague, rack, scourge, smite, torment, torture. See attack/defend, help/harm/harmless.
4. To grasp at (something) eagerly, forcibly, and abruptly with the jaws: catch, nip¹, snap, snatch. See reach/unreachable.
5. To give forth or cause to give forth a clear, resonant sound: bong, chime, knell, peal, ring², toll². See sounds/pleasant sounds/unpleasant sounds/neutral sounds or silence.
6. To remove or invalidate by or as if by running a line through or wiping clean. annul, blot (out), cancel, cross (off or out), delete, efface, erase, expunge, obliterate, rub (out), scratch (out), undo, wipe (out), x (out). Law vacate. See continue/stop/pause.
7. To evoke a usually strong mental or emotional response from: affect¹, get (to), impress, move, touch. See touch/not touch.
8. To enter a person's mind: hit, occur. Idioms: cross one's mind. See happen.
9. To have a sudden overwhelming effect on: catch, seize, take. See attack/defend, over/under.
10. To cease working in support of demands made upon an employer: walk out. Idioms: go on strike. See continue/stop/pause.

phrasal verb - strike back

To return like for like, especially to return an unfriendly or hostile action with a similar one: counter, hit back, reciprocate, retaliate, retort,, attack/defend, forgiveness/vindictiveness.

phrasal verb - strike down

To cause to fall, as from a shot or blow: bring down, cut down, down, drop, fell¹, flatten, floor, ground, knock down, level, prostrate, throw. Slang deck¹. Idioms: lay low,, rise/fall.

phrasal verb - strike out

To proceed in a specified direction: bear, go, head, make, set out,, approach/retreat.

noun

1. The act of attacking: aggression, assailment, assault, attack, attempt, offense, offensive, onrush, onset, onslaught. See attack/defend.
2. Something that has been discovered: ascertainment, discovery, find, finding. See teach/learn.

Idioms beginning with strike:
strike a happy medium
strike a balance
strike a bargain
strike a chord
strike it rich
strike the right note
strike while the iron is hot

See also go out (on strike); happy medium, strike a; lightning never strikes twice; on strike; two strikes against.

Definition: devastate, affect
Antonyms: not touch, pass up

v

Definition: find, discover
Antonyms: lose, miss

v

Definition: hit hard
Antonyms: tap

1. In stone setting or bricklaying, to finish a mortar joint with a stroke of the trowel, simultaneously removing extruding mortar and smoothing the surface of the mortar remaining in the joint; strike off.
2. A strike plate.

A strike is an organized collective work stoppage undertaken by employees to pressure their employer or employers into meeting their demands. A strike differs from a lockout, which is a cessation of work that occurs when an employer precludes employees from taking up their work posts. During the twentieth century, most strikes were organized through labor unions. Although the possibility of striking enhances the bargaining power of unions, strikes are a tool of last resort for workers. Strikes are called only when the demands or claims of labor remain unresolved in the collective bargaining process and in grievance procedures.

Workers rarely strike over a single issue. Nonetheless, strikes can be categorized according to the primary goal that striking workers seek to achieve. In an "organizing strike," union workers seek an employer's recognition of the union as the representative of the workers. In an "economic strike," workers seek to obtain higher wages, reduced working hours, or more extensive benefits. "Grievance strikes" erupt when employers have failed to meet contract terms, or when employers and unions do not agree on the interpretation of a contract. Other types of strikes include "general strikes," which are organized across industries and plants; "wildcat strikes," which are not authorized by the strikers' union, or which take place despite a no-strike clause on a particular issue; and "sympathy strikes," in which workers strike in support of other striking workers rather than to advance their own claims.

Historically, many of the earliest (1850–1900) and most violent strikes in the United States were "organizing strikes," waged primarily to obtain union recognition. Without such recognition, these strikes were considered illegal and often were enjoined by courts.

Between 1900 and 1925, the government softened its antilabor stance to a more neutral position. The need for "organizing strikes" was largely obviated between 1925 and 1959 when legislation and court rulings provided mechanisms for unions to be established and to obtain recognition from employers, bringing bargaining power parity between labor and management. From 1960 to 1980, strikes by government employees gave rise to legislation and executive orders that continue to govern public sector strikes. In the 1980s, several strikes were defeated when employers hired permanent replacement workers. These defeats, along with the mixed success of other strikes, raised questions about the continuing efficacy of strikes, some of which remain unanswered.

Strike Activity and Court Rulings Before 1850

Philadelphia was not only the birthplace of American liberty, but also the cradle of American labor activism. In 1786, Philadelphia's employing printers collectively attempted to reduce the wages of skilled print craftsmen to $5.83 per week. In response, on 31 May 1786, twenty-six Philadelphia craftsmen jointly resolved to "not engage to work for any printing establishment in this city or county under the sum of $6.00 per week," and to "support such of our brethren as shall be thrown out of employment on account of their refusing to work for less than $6.00 per week." Standing by their resolution, these craftsmen waged what was probably the new nation's first labor strike, successfully procuring a $6-per-week minimum wage for skilled printers citywide.

Philadelphia was also the site of an early, influential court case that constricted the permissible scope of collective action by laborers. In Commonwealth v. Pullis (1806), shoemakers associated with Philadelphia's Society of Journeymen Cordwainers were convicted of criminal conspiracy after striking for higher wages. These convictions apparently did not chill further labor strikes in Philadelphia. In 1835, several unions simultaneously staged a walkout in one of the nation's first "general strikes."

Following the Philadelphia court's lead, New York courts in 1809 and 1835 characterized both labor strikes and labor unions as unlawful conspiracies designed to injure employers or their businesses. Most other states followed suit. One notable exception was Massachusetts, whose Supreme Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) that strikes in and of themselves were not criminal conspiracies.

1850–1900: Violence and Suppression

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most labor strikes were undertaken in violation of contemporary laws. Consequently, strikers often clashed violently with law enforcement officials.

In 1886, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie published a popular essay defending workers' right to organize into unions. In 1892, however, Carnegie's pro-worker image was forever tarnished when he authorized the use of violence against striking and locked-out workers at his steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The "Homestead Strike" (which began as a lockout) left many dead and wounded, and set back the labor movement considerably.

The Homestead Strike arose following a downturn in steel price (from $35 to $22 per ton). Carnegie's Homestead plant manager Henry C. Frick, with Carnegie's blessing, locked out 1,100 steelworkers in an effort to cut wages and rid the plant of union labor. After implementing the lockout, Frick announced he would no longer negotiate with the workers' union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. In response, although only 750 of the 3,800 workers at Homestead belonged to the union, 3,000 of them met and voted overwhelmingly to strike.

To penetrate the threatening picket lines that had formed around the closed-up plant, Frick retained a large, armed cadre of Pinkerton Detective agents. When the Pinkerton agents approached the plant, however, an armed confrontation ensued. After a twelve-hour clash that left three Pinkertons and nine workers dead, the Pinkertons surrendered. Many of the Pinkertons were then beaten by the victorious workers, and twenty were severely injured. The state militia was called in, and replacement workers took up the striking men's positions. Four months after the Homestead Strike was declared, it was broken. Strike leaders and about 160 other strikers were arrested and charged with treason. Although juries refused to convict any of the strikers, all were fired and blacklisted. Many of the remaining strikers did return to work, but the effect of these events was to evict unions from Homestead and to limit unions among steelworkers throughout the Pittsburgh area.

One year later, another failed strike dealt another setback to organized labor. Employees of the Pullman Company, which made railroad sleeping cars, were required to live in company-owned housing in the company town of Pullman, Illinois, near Chicago. In 1893, Pullman laid off workers and reduced wages, without reducing housing rents for remaining workers. In response, the Pullman workers struck, demanding lower rents and higher wages. Urged by the American Railway Union (ARU) and its president, Eugene V. Debs, railway workers nationwide boycotted trains carrying Pullman cars, including trains carrying U.S. mail. Declaring the strike a federal crime, President Grover Cleveland sent 12,000 troops to Pullman to break the strike.

On 3 August 1894, the Pullman Strike was broken. Debs was imprisoned, the ARU was disbanded, and Pullman employees signed a pledge never to unionize again. In 1895, the U.S. Supreme Court in re Debs, 158 U.S. 564, affirmed Debs's conviction for conspiring to obstruct interstate commerce. The Court's opinion also sustained the power of lower courts to order striking workers to return to work.

1900–1925: Government Neutrality

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to intervene personally to resolve a labor dispute. In May, 150,000 anthracite coal miners in Pennsylvania struck, seeking higher wages, shorter workdays, improved coal weighing processes, and recognition of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) as the representative of the workers. At that time anthracite coal was one of the nation's most important industrial and home heating energy sources. Thus, a winter fuel shortage threatened if the strike could not be resolved.

On 3 October, President Roosevelt personally urged miners and mine operators to settle their dispute. John Mitchell, president of UMWA, agreed to meet with mine operators, but the operators refused to meet with the union. After threatening to send in military forces to operate the mines, President Roosevelt instead established the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission to arbitrate a settlement. These events marked the first time the U.S. government worked to settle, rather than break, a strike.

On 23 October, the striking miners returned to work. In November, the new government commission commenced public hearings in Scranton and Philadelphia. In March 1903, the commission awarded the miners a ten-percent wage increase, a nine-hour workday, and a neutral board for resolving operator-worker disputes. Although the UMWA was never recognized by the mine operators, miners continued to organize through the UMWA.

A decade later, Congress codified Theodore Roosevelt's policy of neutrality in the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act. That act declared that labor was not an article of commerce or a commodity, and that combinations of workers were not conspiracies in restraint of trade. These provisions were designed to ensure that the federal government would remain neutral when faced with private sector labor-management disputes.

Government neutrality toward private sector labormanagement disputes did not extend to public sector disputes. One such dispute arose in 1919, when Boston Police Commissioner Edwin U. Curtis refused to negotiate with the Boston Social Club, a police fraternal organization, over the hours, wages, and working conditions of

Boston police officers. In August 1919, the Social Club applied to the American Federation of Labor to become a full-fledged union. Social Club members soon learned, however, that Commissioner Curtis had amended the Department's rules to prohibit police officers from forming virtually any outside organization. Curtis had also recruited a volunteer police force in anticipation of a strike.

This rule change precipitated a police strike, with three-quarters of the regular force walking out. Disorder ensued. The Massachusetts State Guard was deployed, and several fatalities resulted from subsequent violence. In response, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge famously proclaimed that "there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime." Facing public disapproval and rigid opposition from Governor Coolidge and Commissioner Curtis, the Boston police strike was broken. None of the striking policemen were rehired.

1925–1946: Congressional Attempts to Equalize Labor-Management Bargaining Power

During the second quarter of the twentieth century, for the first time in American history, the U.S. Congress championed organized labor. Rather than reflexively supporting management (as in the nineteenth century), or remaining neutral (as in the early twentieth century), Congress sought to use the power and prestige of the federal government to elevate the bargaining power of organized labor to parity with that of management. To do so, it enacted laws that regulated management activities such as lockouts and injunctions, while also regulating labor activities such as strikes and picketing.

The Railway Labor Act of 1926 (RLA) was the first federal statute to require employers to recognize and bargain with labor unions. Specifically, the RLA required railroad companies engaged in interstate commerce to bargain collectively with employee-designated representatives. Subsequently, the RLA was expanded to cover other transportation industries, including airlines and bus lines. In 1932, the Norris-LaGuardia Act provided additional protections for organized labor activity by limiting the power of federal courts to issue injunctions prohibiting certain strikes, pickets, or boycotts.

During Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, Congress greatly expanded the scope of legal protection afforded labor organization and strike activity. The most important New Deal labor statute, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), guaranteed to most nonagricultural private sector employees not covered by the 1926 RLA the rights to organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike. The Wagner Act prohibited both employers and unions from engaging in certain specified unfair labor practices, and obliged both sides to engage in good faith collective bargaining. In addition, the Wagner Act established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a permanent, independent federal agency charged with enforcing the Wagner Act and mediating labor-management disputes. The NLRB was also charged with resolving disputes between competing labor organizations over the right to represent particular groups of employees. The following year, Congress further protected labor activity by enacting the Byrnes (or Strikebreakers) Act of 1936, which protected workers engaged in picketing, labor organizing, or collective bargaining against threats or actual uses of force or violence.

1946–1959: Congress Seeks to Check Labor's Power

In 1939, two years before the United States entered World War II, every major American labor organization except for the UMWA took—and honored—a pledge not to strike for the duration of the war. This pledge expired with the end of the war in 1945. A tidal wave of strikes followed, making 1946 the most strike-torn year America had faced. In that year, strikes were called by the United Auto Workers and by unions representing steel, rubber, meatpacking, oil refining, and electrical appliance workers. In addition, the cities of Pittsburgh, Oakland, and Rochester (New York) faced general strikes.

The disruptions caused by these strikes led Congress to enact, over President Truman's veto, the Labor-Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act of 1947. Taft-Hartley placed new and substantial limits and qualifications on organized labor's legal right to strike or engage in other coercive activity. Under the act, unions were required to provide a 60-day no-strike notice period before canceling a collective bargaining agreement. During this period, the government could order further delay, or even an outright aversion, of the proposed strike, by declaring a "national emergency." Taft-Hartley flatly prohibited government employees from striking, and nullified certain parts of the 1932 Norris-LaGuardia Act by allowing courts to enjoin certain specified unfair labor practices. Finally, Taft-Hartley prohibited "jurisdictional strikes"—that is, disputes between unions to determine which union should represent particular workers.

A decade later, Congress reacted to allegations of linkages between organized labor and organized crime by enacting the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act), which sought to "clean up" and democratize labor unions. The Landrum-Griffin Act required unions to allow their members to vote on decisions to call or terminate strikes, to raise dues, and to select officers. In cases where more than one union sought to represent a particular group of workers, Landrum-Griffin mandated that the union receiving the most votes would serve as the exclusive employee representative.

The labor laws developed during the 1920s and 1930s, as modified in the 1940s and 1950s, created mechanisms to establish unions and obtain recognition from private employers. By establishing such mechanisms, these laws played a key role in reducing the incidence of economic disruption and violence previously associated with labormanagement clashes.

1960–1980: Public Sector Unionism

Before 1960, government employees shared few of the benefits of labor organization enjoyed by their private sector counterparts. Many public sector positions were considered to provide essential services that could not be disrupted without endangering the public. Based on this reasoning, the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act prohibited public sector strikes and imposed harsh penalties on striking federal employees: immediate dismissal and a three-year bar to reemployment. In 1947, eight states, including New York, enacted similar legislative strike prohibitions for their state and local public employees.

In 1962, however, President John F. Kennedy issued an Executive Order that encouraged union representation and collective bargaining on behalf of federal employees, and authorized the use of limited advisory arbitration of employee grievances. Consequently, federal employees joined unions in large numbers during the 1960s. State and local government employees, including many schoolteachers, followed suit.

Although federal employees and most state and local employees are prohibited by law from striking, such laws have not always prevented public sector strikes from occurring. Nor have these laws always been enforced. In January 1966, New York City's transit workers struck for two weeks, shutting down the world's largest subway system and creating monumental traffic jams across the city's five boroughs. Rather than invoking the state law that prohibited public sector strikes, however, the New York State legislature passed special legislation exempting transit workers from the statutory penalties. In 1967, New York created a new process for resolving stalemates in the public sector collective bargaining process aimed at heading off public sector strikes before they occurred.

Perhaps influenced by New York's approach, the federal government adopted measures to improve its own collective bargaining process to prevent its employees from striking. In 1969, President Nixon ordered that disputes concerning the terms and conditions of federal employment that remained unresolved in the collective bargaining process would be referred to a neutral arbitrator, whose decision would bind all parties. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 substantially codified the approach taken in President Nixon's 1969 executive order, creating a new independent Federal Labor Relation Authority (FLRA) to serve as arbitrator.

The 1978 act was intended to avoid creating the conditions that might lead federal employees to strike, by providing fair and orderly procedures for resolving impasses in the collective bargaining process. Nonetheless, in 1981, just three years after the 1978 act, almost 13,000 federally employed professional air traffic controllers (PATCOs) struck, seeking higher pay and reduced working hours. Within 48 hours, President Reagan fired every one of the 11,350 PATCOs who did not heed his order to return to work, and declared a lifetime ban against their rehiring. The government's success in recruiting and retaining replacement PATCOs without substantially disrupting the nation's commercial air traffic inspired some private sector employers to make similar use of replacement workers when confronted with strikes. Consequently, strikes and the threat of strike by unions lost substantial ability to impact negotiations with both private and public sector employers.

1980s–early 2000s: Whither Strikes?

Soon after President Reagan defeated the PATCO strike, the Supreme Court dealt organized labor an additional blow when it ruled in 1983 that a replacement worker hired during a strike had a right to retain the striking worker's job after the strike was settled. Two years later, the Court in Pattern Makers' League of North America, AFL-CIO v. National Labor Relations Board, 473 U.S. 95, ruled that union members could resign from their unions at any time, without notice. This ruling left a striking union without recourse if a member resigned and crossed a picket line to return to work.

Despite these setbacks to organized labor, however, several major strikes occurred in the 1990s. In 1990, following eight years of annual pay cuts, 6,300 Greyhound bus drivers began a bitter three-year strike marred by shootings, beatings, and threats of violence from both sides. The Greyhound strike ended in 1993, when the drivers accepted Greyhound's offer of a 20-percent wage increase over six years, plus $22 million in back pay.

In summer 1996, the United Auto Workers struck General Motors Corporation over the issues of excessive overtime and outsourcing of jobs. After being forced to briefly shut down most of its manufacturing plants nationwide, General Motors ended the strike by meeting the lion's share of the union's demands.

Although strikes most often are waged by unions representing middle-income workers, some of the nation's highest-paid employees—professional athletes—struck during the 1980s and 1990s. In both 1982 and 1987, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) struck, seeking free agency and a higher salary scale for professional football players. Both times, the players quickly returned to work without achieving their strike objectives. In 1993, however, without waging another strike, NFLPA secured both free agency and substantially higher salaries for its members through a collective bargaining agreement negotiated with the National Football League.

In professional ice hockey, team owners locked out players for half the 1994–1995 season in a dispute over salary cap and free agency rules. The National Basketball Association also lost a third of its 1998–1999 season when the league locked out its players in a bid to renegotiate league salary cap rules. Both lockouts were ultimately resolved by compromise negotiations.

In 1994, professional baseball players struck for the entire season when team owners sought to impose a league-wide salary cap. Because of the strike, the World Series was canceled in 1994 for the first time since 1904. Although the players returned to work the following season, the salary cap issue remained unresolved.

Despite the scope and the success of some strikes during the 1990s, strikes are waning as a tool of organized labor. In 2001, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of idle days, and the percent of working time lost because of strikes and lockouts, had both reached historic lows.

Bibliography

Dunlop, John T., and Neil W. Chamberlain, eds. Frontiers of Collective Bargaining. New York: Harper and Row, 1967.

Freeman, Joshua B. In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933–1966. 2d ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.

Ross, Arthur M., and Paul T. Hartman. Changing Patterns of Industrial Conflict. New York: Wiley, 1960.

Steinfeld, Robert J. "The Philadelphia Cordwainers' Case of 1806: The Struggle over Alternative Legal Constructions of a Free Market in Labor." In Labor Law in America: Historical and Critical Essays. Edited by Christopher L. Tomlins and Andrew J. King. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Home page at http://www.bls.gov/

Zieger, Robert H. American Workers, American Unions. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1994.

A work stoppage; the concerted refusal of employees to perform work that their employer has assigned to them in order to force the employer to grant certain demanded concessions, such as increased wages or improved employment conditions.

Since the 1930s U.S. employees have had the legal right to strike. A work stoppage is generally the last step in a labor-management dispute over wages and working conditions. Because employees are not paid when they go on strike and employers lose productivity, both sides usually seek to avoid it. When negotiations have reached an impasse, however, a strike may be the only bargaining tool left for employees. A strike must be conducted in an orderly manner and cannot be used as a shield for violence or crime. Intimidation and coercion during the course of a strike are unlawful.

Employees can strike for economic reasons, for improvement of their working conditions, or for the mutual aid and protection of employees in another union. In addition, even if they do not have a union, employees can properly agree to stop working as a group; in that case they are entitled to all the protections that organized strikers are afforded.

Labor unions do not have the right to use a strike to interfere with management prerogatives or with policies that the employer is entitled to make that do not directly concern the employment relationship. Although a union can attempt to bargain for higher wages to be paid to employees who work unpopular hours, it cannot strike merely because members are dissatisfied with their hours of employment.

Federal Labor Law

The development of labor unions in the nineteenth century was met by employer hostility. The concept of collective bargaining between employer and employee was viewed as antithetical to the right of individual workers and their employers to negotiate wages and working conditions — a concept known as liberty of contract. When unions did strike, they were left to deal with management without legal protections. Employers fired strikers and obtained injunctions from courts that ordered unions to end the strike or risk contempt of court.

The unequal bargaining power of unions was remedied in the 1930s with the passage of two important federal labor laws. In 1932 Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 101 et seq.), which severely limited the power of federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes. The act imposed strict procedural limitations and safeguards to prevent abuses by the courts. The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935 (29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.) clearly established the right of employees to form, join, or aid labor unions. The act authorized collective bargaining by unions and gave employees the right to participate in "concerted actions" to bargain collectively. The major concerted action was the right to strike.

Federal labor laws require a sixty-day waiting period before workers can strike to force termination or modification of an existing collective bargaining agreement. The terms of the agreement remain in full force and effect during this period, and any employee who strikes can be fired. The sixty-day "cooling-off period" begins when the union serves notice on the employer or when the existing contract ends. This provision does not affect the right of employees to strike in protest of some unfair labor practice of their employer. It does help to prevent premature strikes, however.

Status

Strikes can be divided into two basic types: economic and unfair labor practice. An economic strike seeks to obtain some type of economic benefit for the workers, such as improved wages and hours, or to force recognition of their union. An unfair labor practice strike is called to protest some act of the employer that the employees regard as unfair.

When employees strike, the employer may continue operating the business and can hire replacement workers. Upon settlement of an unfair labor practice strike, the strikers must be reinstated as soon as they offer unconditionally to return to work, even if the replacement workers must be fired.

In economic strikes, however, the employer is not required to take back the strikers immediately upon the settlement of the dispute. Economic strikers are still categorized as employees and are entitled to reinstatement in the event vacancies occur, but the employer does not have to reinstate any worker who has found substantially equivalent work elsewhere or who has given the employer a legitimate and substantial reason for not reinstating that worker. The hiring of permanent replacement workers has become an important management weapon against economic strikes, giving the employer the ability to hire a nonunion workforce and to threaten the local union with destruction. U.S. labor unions have been unsuccessful in persuading Congress to amend the National Labor Relations Act to provide immediate job reinstatement to economic strikers.

An employee has no right to be paid while on strike, nor does the employee have a right to claim unemployment compensation benefits, unless state law provides the benefit. Employees who refuse to cross a picket line on principle are treated in the same way as strikers, but those who are kept from their jobs through fear of violence are entitled to collect unemployment compensation.

Employees forfeit their right to maintain the employment relationship if their strike is illegal. Public employees are generally forbidden to strike. If they do, they risk dismissal. In 1981, for example, President Ronald Reagan responded to an illegal strike by federal air traffic controllers by dismissing more than 10,000 employees.

Ordinarily, however, a strike is legal if employees are using it to exert economic pressure upon their employer in order to improve the conditions of their employment. A strike is unlawful if it is directed at someone other than the employer or if it is used for some other purpose. Federal law prohibits most boycotts or picketing directed at a party not involved in the primary dispute. These tactics are known as secondary boycotts or secondary picketing, and they are strictly limited so that businesses that are innocent bystanders will not become victims in a labor dispute that they cannot resolve.

Unlawful Tactics

Picketing can be regulated by statute because of the potential for violence inherent in this activity. Mass picketing is unlawful under federal law because large unruly crowds could be used for the purpose of intimidation. Employees are entitled to picket in small numbers outside the employer's facilities, but they cannot block entrances or demonstrate in front of an employer's home. Picketing is lawful when it is used to inform the public, the employer, or other workers about the dispute. However, it cannot be used to threaten people or to provoke violence.

A strike is generally lawful if it is peaceful, but workers forfeit the protection afforded by federal labor laws if they violate a law. A strike is never a legal excuse for violence, and acts of physical violence and damage to property will be viewed as criminal acts. Employers who use violence against strikers are subject to the same penalties.

A union or an employer can be fined or adjudged guilty of an unfair labor practice and ordered to cease and desist when violent actions occur. An injunction from a state court can stop the strike or picketing. Because no labor disputes can proceed without minor problems, an isolated minor incident, such as name-calling or a shove, does not end the right to strike.

Union Members

Labor unions can fine or expel members who cross picket lines, fail to honor a lawful strike, or indulge in violence during a strike. In addition, they can discipline members for conduct antagonistic to the union, such as spying for the employer or participating in an unauthorized strike. A union member is entitled to a written notice of specific charges against him and a full and fair hearing before he can be expelled.

Settlement

Strikes are ordinarily settled by negotiation between the employer and the employees or the union that represents them. An employer who does not want to engage in negotiations can cease operations entirely. However, an employer cannot avoid bargaining by relocating or by assigning the same work to another plant owned by the company. If the employer and employees bargain in good faith, they generally settle their differences and sign a collective bargaining agreement.

See: labor law.

A concerted refusal by employees in a particular business or industry to work. Its goal is usually to force employers to meet demands respecting wages and other working conditions.

(DOD, NATO) An attack which is intended to inflict damage on, seize, or destroy an objective.

To send out roots. Refers to cuttings.

Quotes:

"The General Strike has taught the working class more in four days than years of talking could have done." - Arthur James Balfour

"One of the great reasons for the popularity of strikes is that they give the suppressed self a sense of power. For once the human tool knows itself a man, able to stand up and speak a word or strike a blow." - Charles Horton Cooley

Cutaneous myiasis.

• Mining - strike: discovery of rich deposit of ore, coal, or minerals
• Measures and Standards of Time - strike: (vb) make known the time by sounding, esp. a bell
• Seamanship and Port - strike: (vb) shorten or take down sails
• Customs, Formalities, and Practices - strike: (vb) eliminate from official record of court proceedings
• Types and Techniques of Warfare - strike: attack, esp. preemptive, preventive, first, or second thermonuclear attack; aircraft attack on surface target
• Labor - strike: organized and deliberate work stoppage used to attain benefits, esp. changes in working conditions or wages
• Stagecraft, Production, and Dramatic Structure - strike: (vb) take apart and remove (scenery or set) from stage
• Baseball - strike: a pitch that is either swung at and missed, a foul ball, or a pitch that is not swung on but is judged by the umpire to have crossed the plate through the strike zone
• Bowling
• Fishing Practice and Techniques - strike: moment when fish attacks and takes fly, lure, or bait and must be hooked; hit
• Attacks - strike: (vb) hit with force; (n) sudden attack
• Violent Actions - strike: hit with one’s fist or an object; clout

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - slå, ramme, støde mod, løbe på, finde, falde ind, forekomme, anslå, præge, stryge, tage ned
v. intr. - finde, falde ind, forekomme
n. - slag, arbejdsnedlæggelse, strejke, angreb, prægning af mønter, fund, strygning

idioms:

• strike a bargain    afslutte en handel, slå en handel af
• strike a blow against something    slå et slag imod noget
• strike a blow for something    slå et slag for noget
• strike a pose    stille sig an, gøre sig kostbar
• strike at    rette et slag mod
• strike down    slå ned
• strike force    angrebsstyrke
• strike gold    finde guld, ramme en guldåre
• strike home    have den ønskede effekt, gøre fyldest, opnå sit mål
• strike it rich    blive pludseligt rig
• strike off    stryge, hugge af, trykke
• strike oil    finde olie, ramme en olieåre
• strike on    finde, opdage, støde på, komme på
• strike out    slå ud, lange ud, stryge, begynde, skabe, udkaste
• strike through    gennemstrege
• strike up    begynde, istemme, spille op
• strike upon    finde, opdage, støde på, komme på
• strike while the iron is hot    smede, mens jernet er varmt

Nederlands (Dutch)
slaan, staken, toeslaan, treffen, aanvallen, raken, neerlaten (vlag/ tent), staking, slag, uit in honkbal, sluitplaat

Français (French)
v. tr. - frapper, toucher, heurter, venir à l'esprit, découvrir, tomber sur, rencontrer, conclure (un accord), frotter (une allumette), sonner (l'heure), supprimer, rayer, démonter, (Fin) frapper (la monnaie), (Hort) planter, ferrer (un poisson), mordre (à l'hameçon)
v. intr. - frapper, tomber, attaquer, (Ind, Comm) faire la grève, s'allumer (une allumette), sonner, prendre, (Hort) prendre (racine), mordre (poisson)
n. - (Ind, Comm) grève, (gén, Mil) attaque, (Minér) découverte, sonnerie, (Sport) bonne balle, strike, double honneur, touche (pêche)

idioms:

• on strike    (être) en grève
• strike a bargain    conclure un marché
• strike a blow against something    (être) prêt à se battre contre qch
• strike a blow for something    (être) prêt à se battre pour qch
• strike a pose    prendre une pose
• strike at    attaquer, menacer (qch)
• strike at the root of    s'attaquer à la racine du
• strike back    riposter
• strike down    faire tomber, terrasser, abattre, tuer
• strike force    (Mil) détachement d'intervention
• strike gold    découvrir de l'or
• strike home    frapper juste
• strike in    frapper au
• strike it rich    (fig) tenir le filon
• strike off    prendre (à travers/vers), rayer, (Imprim) tirer, couper, radier (un médecin)
• strike oil    découvrir du pétrole, (fig) trouver le filon
• strike on    s'enticher de
• strike out    frapper, attaquer, (fig) s'en prendre à, s'élancer, (US) être éliminé (base-ball), (US) ne pas parvenir à ses fins, rayer, supprimer
• strike through    prendre (à travers)
• strike up    commencer à jouer, commencer à chanter, entamer, engager
• strike upon    frapper sur
• strike while the iron is hot    frapper le fer tant qu'il est chaud

Deutsch (German)
v. - schlagen, treffen, einschlagen in, angreifen, stoßen auf, befallen, beeindrucken, prägen, (an)zünden, einholen, hereinbrechen, streiken, anschlagen
n. - Streik, Treffer, Schlag, Angriff, Fehlschlag

idioms:

• on strike    in den Streik getreten sein/in den Streik treten
• strike a bargain    sich einig werden
• strike a blow against something    (fig) einer Sache einen Schlag versetzen
• strike a blow for something    (fig) einer Sache einen Dienst erweisen
• strike a pose    eine Pose einnehmen
• strike at    schlagen nach
• strike at the root of    etw. in seinem Lebensnerv treffen
• strike back    zurückschlagen
• strike down    niederschlagen
• strike force    Einsatzkommando
• strike gold    auf Gold stoßen
• strike home    jmdn. tief verletzen
• strike in    (fig) einen Glückstreffer landen mit (ugs)
• strike it rich    eine reiche Quelle finden
• strike off    streichen, die Zulassung entziehen, abschlagen
• strike oil    auf Öl stoßen
• strike on    finden
• strike out    streichen, ausarbeiten
• strike through    durchstreichen
• strike up    anstimmen, anfangen, anknüpfen
• strike upon    finden
• strike while the iron is hot    etwas tun solange das Eisen heiß ist

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - χτυπώ, απεργώ, κατεβάζω, υποστέλλω (σημαία κ.λπ.), ξεστήνω (σκηνές κ.λπ.), (για ασθένεια κ.λπ.) προσβάλλω, διαγράφω, απαλείφω, (για ρολόι, καμπάνα κ.λπ.) σημαίνω, χτυπώ, (για φως) πέφτω, φωτίζω, (για ήχο) ακούγομαι, ανάβω (σπίρτο), κλείνω (συμφωνία), παίρνω (πόζα), κάνω/προκαλώ εντύπωση, εντυπωσιάζω, κρούω, προσκρούω, (μτφ.) εξισορροπώ
n. - απεργία, πλήγμα, χτύπημα, ανεύρεση κοιτάσματος, επίθεση, επιδρομή, επιτυχημένο τέχνασμα ή διάβημα, (αθλοπ.) καλοζυγισμένη πάσα, (στρατ.) (αεροπορική) επίθεση
adj. - της απεργίας

idioms:

• strike a bargain    κλείνω συμφωνία
• strike a blow against something    καταφέρω πλήγμα εναντίον
• strike a blow for something    αγωνίζομαι υπέρ
• strike a pose    παίρνω πόζα
• strike at    κάνω/προσπαθώ να χτυπήσω
• strike down    πατάσσω, ρίχνω στο έδαφος
• strike force    δύναμη κρούσεως
• strike gold    βρίσκω χρυσάφι, πιάνω την καλή
• strike home    κάνω διάνα, βρίσκω το στόχο μου
• strike it rich    (καθομ.) πιάνω την καλή
• strike off    αποκόπτω με κτύπημα, διαγράφω, εκτυπώνω
• strike oil    ανακαλύπτω κοίτασμα πετρελαίου, (μτφ.) πιάνω την καλή
• strike on    βρίσκω/σκέφτομαι κατά τύχη
• strike out    διαγράφω, απαλείφω, εξαπολύω πλήγμα
• strike through    διαγράφω
• strike up    αρχίζω, (για μουσική) ανακρούω
• strike upon    βρίσκω/σκέφτομαι κατά τύχη
• strike while the iron is hot    στη βράση κολλάει το σίδερο!

Italiano (Italian)
colpire, ammainare, commuovere, urtare, sfruttare, scioperare, sciopero

idioms:

• strike a bargain    concludere un affare
• strike a pose    posare
• strike at    aggredire
• strike down    abbattere
• strike force    truppa d'assalto
• strike gold    scoprire una miniera d'oro
• strike home    colpire nel segno
• strike it rich    arricchirsi
• strike off    cancellare, radiare
• strike oil    fare un affarone
• strike on    incontrarsi con
• strike out    cancellare, radiare
• strike through    cancellare
• strike up    cominciare
• strike upon    avere un'idea brillante
• strike while the iron is hot    battere il ferro finché è caldo

Português (Portuguese)
v. - fazer greve, atacar, arriar, desarmar
n. - greve (f), ataque (m)

idioms:

• strike a bargain    fechar um negócio
• strike a pose    fazer pose
• strike at    atacar o âmago de (fig.)
• strike down    derrubar
• strike force    força (f) de ataque (Mil.)
• strike gold    achar ou produzir algo que rende muito dinheiro
• strike home    isto deu resultado
• strike it rich    enriquecer rapidamente (fig.)
• strike off    riscar
• strike oil    descobrir petróleo
• strike on    incidir sobre (luz)
• strike out    apagar
• strike through    penetrar
• strike up    começar a tocar ou cantar (Mús.)
• strike upon    incidir sobre
• strike while the iron is hot    malhe o ferro enquanto está quente (fig.)

Русский (Russian)
удар, неожиданная удача, помеха, бить, ударяться, попадать, нападать, поражать, находить, случайно встречать, проникать, достигать, отменять, производить впечатление, вызывать какие-л. чувства, высекать (огонь), бить (о часах), биться (о сердце), чеканить, подводить (баланс)

idioms:

• strike a bargain    заключить сделку
• strike a pose    принять позу
• strike at    нанести удар
• strike down    свалить, сразить, припекать (о солнце)
• strike force    ударная группа
• strike gold    найти золотую жилу
• strike home    "попасть в точку"
• strike it rich    напасть на жилу, неожиданно разбогатеть, преуспеть
• strike off    отрубать, вычеркивать, исключать из реестра, вычитать (из счета), импровизировать, описывать ясно и точно, исправляться
• strike oil    найти нефтяное месторождение
• strike on    случайно встречать, наталкиваться, находить
• strike out    набрасываться, быстро двигаться, вычеркнуть, изобрести, набросать план
• strike through    зачеркивать
• strike up    начинать, заиграть, заключать (сделку), вскакивать
• strike upon    случайно встречать, наталкиваться, находить
• strike while the iron is hot    "Куй железо пока горячо"

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - pegar, golpear, asestar, arriar, dar, chocar, sorprender, herir, batir, chocar con, dar contra, hacer chocar, atascar, castigar, morder (la serpiente), encender (una cerilla), sacar (chispa, fuego), acuñar, troquelar, hundir, hacer penetrar, tocar, indicar con sonidos, dar (la hora), hallar, descubrir, dar con, igualar, nivelar, atraer, enamorar, desarmar, desmontar, borrar, tachar
v. intr. - golpear, arriar, chocar, tropezar, estar en huelga, dar golpes, avanzar, ir adelante, meterse, introducirse, intervenir, sonar, dar la hora, picar, encallar, embarrancar
n. - huelga, paro, golpe, rasero, calidad (de la cerveza), ganga

idioms:

• on strike    en huelga
• strike a bargain    cerrar un trato
• strike a blow against something    actuar en contra de algo
• strike a blow for something    actuar en favor de algo
• strike a pose    asumir una actitud o pose de forma repentina
• strike at    dirigir un golpe, acometer
• strike at the root of    atacar en un área vital con resultados destructivos, atacar las bases
• strike back    devolver el golpe, tomar represalias
• strike down    abatir, derribar, hacer soltar de un golpe, fulminar
• strike force    fuerza militar o de la policía
• strike gold    encontrar oro
• strike home    dar en el blanco, herir en lo vivo
• strike in    intervenir en una discusión
• strike it rich    enriquecerse, hacerse rico
• strike off    tachar, borrar, quitar de golpe, deducir, bajar
• strike oil    encontrar petróleo
• strike on    ocurrírsele a uno, tropezar, caer sobre
• strike out    tachar, borrar, idear, pegar, dar un golpe, suprimir, ponerse a remar/nadar/caminar hacia
• strike through    tachar
• strike up    entablar, empezar, trabar, entonar, atacar
• strike upon    ocurrírsele a uno, caer sobre, tropezar
• strike while the iron is hot    al hierro caliente batir de repente

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - slå, träffa, stöta emot, strejka, träffa på, finna, frappera, fylla, prägla, slå an, stryka ur, avsluta, göra upp, lägga ned, inta, angripa, gå på grund, göra intryck på, verka, tända, ta eld, slå rot
n. - strejk, slag, hugg, angrepp, låsbleck, strykträ, avstrykningsplanka,
adj. - strejk-, slag-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
打, 攻击, 击, 咬伤, 抓伤, 侵袭, 抓, 打击, 空袭, 罢工, 罢市, 罢课

idioms:

• strike a bargain    达成协议, 拍板成交
• strike a blow against something    反对..., 狠狠地打一击
• strike a blow for something    拥护, 为...而战斗
• strike a pose    亮相, 摆姿势
• strike at    向...打击
• strike down    击倒
• strike force    打击部队, 打击力量
• strike gold    找到金矿矿脉
• strike home    击中要害
• strike it rich    走运, 发现丰富的矿藏
• strike off    取消
• strike oil    发现油矿, 飞黄腾达
• strike on    偶然想起
• strike out    删去, 想出
• strike through    删除线
• strike up    开始演奏, 使开始, 建立起
• strike upon    突然发现, 突然想到
• strike while the iron is hot    趁热打铁

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 打, 攻擊, 擊, 咬傷, 抓傷, 侵襲
v. intr. - 打, 抓, 打擊
n. - 打擊, 空襲, 攻擊, 罷工, 罷市, 罷課

idioms:

• strike a bargain    達成協議, 拍板成交
• strike a blow against something    反對..., 狠狠地打一擊
• strike a blow for something    擁護, 為...而戰鬥
• strike a pose    亮相, 擺姿勢
• strike at    向...打擊
• strike down    擊倒
• strike force    打擊部隊, 打擊力量
• strike gold    找到金礦礦脈
• strike home    擊中要害
• strike it rich    走運, 發現豐富的礦藏
• strike off    取消
• strike oil    發現油礦, 飛黃騰達
• strike on    偶然想起
• strike out    刪去, 想出
• strike through    刪除線
• strike up    開始演奏, 使開始, 建立起
• strike upon    突然發現, 突然想到
• strike while the iron is hot    趁熱打鐵

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - ~을 치다, ~이 생각나다, 우연히 맞닥뜨리다
v. intr. - 때리다, (마음, 감각등에) 닿다, ~으로 향하다
n. - 치기, (야구)스트라이크, 동맹 파업

idioms:

• strike at    ~에 덤벼들다, ~을 습격하다
• strike down    때려 눕히다, 죽이다, (병이)덮치다
• strike off    베어버리다, 자격을 박탈하다, 할인하다
• strike on    (어떤 생각이)떠오르다
• strike out    (~을 향해) 헤엄쳐 나가다, (야구) 삼진 당하다
• strike through    선을 그어 지우다
• strike up    연주를 시작하다, 부르기 시작하다
• strike upon    (어떤 생각이)떠오르다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 打つ, 打ち込む, 加える, 射る, 不意に襲う, ぶつける, ぶつかる, 打ち鳴らされる, 時を打つ, する, 印象を与える, ストライキをする, 決算する, 取り外す, 根付く, 悩ます
n. - 打撃, 攻撃, ストライキ, 発見, 大成功, ストライク

idioms:

• strike (it) lucky    一山当てる
• strike a bargain    契約を結ぶ, 売買契約を結ぶ
• strike a blow for/against something    実行に移す
• strike a note    感想を述べる
• strike a pose    ポーズをとって
• strike at    攻撃する
• strike down    殴り倒す, 重病にする, 死なせる, 打ちのめす, 照り付ける
• strike force    打撃部隊
• strike gold    金を掘り当てる
• strike home    深く打ち込む, 急所をつく
• strike it rich    急に大金持ちになる
• strike off    打ち落とす, 削除する, から削除する, 印刷する, 横道にそれる
• strike off the rolls    除名する, 弁護士名簿から除く
• strike oil    石油を掘り当てる, ひと山当てる
• strike on    衝突する, 点火する, たたく
• strike out    進む, 三振する, 打ち出す
• strike root    根を張る
• strike through    抹消する, 貫く
• strike up    はね上げる, 歌い始める, 結ぶ
• strike upon    思いつく
• strike while the iron is hot    鉄は熱いうちに打て

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) قرع, أضرب عن العمل, دق, ضرب, أصاب, صدم (الاسم) اضراب, ضربه, اكتشاف نفط أو معدن, هجوم عسكري (صفه) ما يخص الأضراب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮היכה, חבט, הלם, פגע, התקיף, הסתער, הרשים, מצא, הטביע (מטבעות), הכיש, הוציא שורש, החטיא חבטה (כדור-בסיס), הגיע לאיזון, הצית אש ע"י חיכוך‬
v. intr. - ‮עלה בדעתו, חישב, הגיע ל-, הטביע (מטבעות), צלצל (שעון), ניסה להכות, פנה לכיוון מסוים, שבת, נכנע‬
n. - ‮שביתה, התקפה, הפצצה, גילוי, מציאה, הצלחה, מזל‬

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