Over time, courts have excluded some nontraditional work stoppages from federal labor-law protection based on the forms that these stoppages take. These walkouts are undoubtedly “strikes” in the most basic sense of the term. 26, 2015) (highlighting workers’ one-day strike to protest employers’ alleged unlawful threats against unionized workers). 29, 2015) (noting “12th single-day strike in nearly two years” by federal workers over unlawful workplace practices) Ben Penn, Workers at Logan Airport Strike Again over ULPs, 29 Lab. 18, 2013) (describing one-day strike against company’s allegedly unlawful bargaining tactics) Ben Penn, In Largest Strike Yet, Contract Workers Seek ‘Model Employer’ Order, as Does CPC, 29 Lab. Hobbs, UAW-Represented Workers Back on the Job After One-Day ULP Strike at Bell Helicopter, 27 Lab. That is, the protesters seek through their action to deter and remedy unlawful employer retaliation against employees who exercise their workplace rights. Short-term protests originate from diverse causes, but many recent protests have endorsed a goal of labor-law enforcement. 29, 2013, 1:54 pm), (noting workers in dozens of cities went on strike in support of, among other aims, right to unionize). See, e.g., Karen McVeigh, US Fast-Food Workers Stage Nationwide Strike in Protest at Low Wages, Guardian (Aug. Various forms of short-term protests present an alternative model, a model existing since the formation of modern labor law but gaining attention in recent years with a newfound purpose.
This is not the only way that employees withdraw their labor, however. Dep’t of Labor, Major Work Stoppages in 2014, at 3–4 tbl.1 (Feb. For statistics on declining major work stoppages, see Press Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Workers took part in 381 major work stoppages in 1970, but the number has dwindled to just eleven in 2014. Due to economic and legal changes that have weakened the traditional strike, such images of long-term economic contests between labor and capital are largely relics of another time. Workers prepare for months without pay, and the company for months without production. What does it mean to “strike”? Machines screech to a halt.
This Note argues that the scope of protected forms of concerted activity available to unfair labor practice strikers should be broader given that these strikes’ primary purpose is not to wage an economic battle but, alternatively, to compel an employer to comply with the requirements of existing labor law.
LAWFUL STRIKE DEFINITION FREE
The justifications for finding certain forms of nontraditional strikes unprotected under the Act stem from a theory that such labor action should be left to the free play of economic forces. Instead, the Board and courts have at times skirted the question of whether a separate standard is necessary, developing elusive exemptions from the traditional rule to protect workers engaged in these strikes. While unfair labor practice strikers receive greater protection from replacement by employers, neither the Board nor the federal courts have allowed for expansion of the scope of protected nontraditional strike activity for such strikers. In removing such strike forms from the protection of federal labor law, the Board and courts have declined to expressly differentiate between nontraditional strikes stemming from different purposes.
LAWFUL STRIKE DEFINITION FULL
With respect to form, the subcategories are less clear, but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) and the courts have distinguished between full strikes, which receive protection under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act), and certain categories of nontraditional strikes, such as intermittent and partial strikes, which do not. In terms of purpose, a strike over terms and conditions of employment is an economic strike while one over an employer’s violations of federal labor law is an unfair labor practice strike. American labor law classifies strikes according to both purpose and form.
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