strike
A strike is a labor protest consisting of the cessation of work during a period of time under a common agreement, as a way to pressure employers or the government to obtain economic, social and/or labor recognition.
There are different types of strikes:
- Sit down strike: Employees show up to their place of employment, but they refuse to work and to leave, which makes it very difficult for anyone to challenge the union and take the worker´s places.
- General strike: one in which all or most workers in an entire region or country go on strike together, regardless of union affiliation. They are usually intended to create political pressure on the government.
- Slow-down strike: All the union employees to perform their jobs, but they start doing everything "by the book," following every rule and performing every safety check to the point that their work slows down.
- Hunger strike: form of non-violent protest in which a person fasts with the aim to pressure an institution or a group of people.
- Japanese strike: strike in which workers work more than what is considered normal and more than they are obliged to, to provoke an increase on the production which causes the decrease in prices according to the law of supply and demand. It is thought to be a Spanish urban legend, because in Japan they tend to do a slow-down strike.
- Intermittent strike: employees alternate periods of work with periods during which they withhold their labor. It is usually taken place for several hours a day, several days a week or several days a month. It has many advantages: it serves as a warning that conflict exists, thus creating the possibility of its resolution; it allows pressure to be applied gradually; it has less impact on their wage/pay; and it makes it easier for them to communicate with each other and maintain unity.
Multimedia
The Irish hunger strikes
Europe´s mega strike
