Is the Strike No Longer Necessary?
Is the strike no longer necessary?
Throughout the years conflict has occurred between managers and workers resulting in industrial action taken either individually or as a collective form. The most favoured form of industrial action is the strike where employees demonstrate the importance of the issue concerned by stopping work and leaving the workplace. Strikes occur for a number of reasons one being pay. Strike patterns have changed over the years showing a decline in numbers that are due to many reasons such as changes in the law, which will be discussed later.
Strikes are an obvious expression of industrial conflict and can be defined as a temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees in order to express a grievance or enforce a demand '. The term temporary stoppage implies that the workers intend to return to their jobs when the strike is over. As it is a stoppage of work this distinguishes the strike from other forms of industrial action such as an overtime ban or go-slow. The strike is undertaken by a group of employees thereby highlighting it as a collective act; also the strike is specifically designed to seek a solution to problems and to apply pressure to enforce demands.
It has been suggested there are six definitions that can describe the main types of strikes which include, the trial of strength where the strikes tend to be long-lasting affairs concerning substantial costs to employers. A second type of strike can be illustrated as the official strike ' where a union officially supports its members according to the union rules governing the conduct of disputes. However a third type of strike the unofficial strike ' is where the strike has not been recognised by the union leadership, although in recent years these types of strikes have declined.
It is evident that Britain 's strike figures show a number of trends. There have been significant changes in patterns of striking since the 1940s. During the late 1940s there were fewer
Throughout the years conflict has occurred between managers and workers resulting in industrial action taken either individually or as a collective form. The most favoured form of industrial action is the strike where employees demonstrate the importance of the issue concerned by stopping work and leaving the workplace. Strikes occur for a number of reasons one being pay. Strike patterns have changed over the years showing a decline in numbers that are due to many reasons such as changes in the law, which will be discussed later.
Strikes are an obvious expression of industrial conflict and can be defined as a temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees in order to express a grievance or enforce a demand '. The term temporary stoppage implies that the workers intend to return to their jobs when the strike is over. As it is a stoppage of work this distinguishes the strike from other forms of industrial action such as an overtime ban or go-slow. The strike is undertaken by a group of employees thereby highlighting it as a collective act; also the strike is specifically designed to seek a solution to problems and to apply pressure to enforce demands.
It has been suggested there are six definitions that can describe the main types of strikes which include, the trial of strength where the strikes tend to be long-lasting affairs concerning substantial costs to employers. A second type of strike can be illustrated as the official strike ' where a union officially supports its members according to the union rules governing the conduct of disputes. However a third type of strike the unofficial strike ' is where the strike has not been recognised by the union leadership, although in recent years these types of strikes have declined.
It is evident that Britain 's strike figures show a number of trends. There have been significant changes in patterns of striking since the 1940s. During the late 1940s there were fewer
Bibliography: Edwards, P. (1995). Industrial Relations, Theory and Practice in Britain, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Hyman, R. (1994) Strikes, Fourth Edition, Macmillan Press Ltd Rose, E. (2001) Employment Relations, Prentice Hall. Haralambos, M and Holborn, M. (2000) Sociology, Themes and Perspectives, Fifth Edition, HaperCollins Publishers Ltd. Salamon, M. (2000) Industrial Relations, Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall.