Editing Strike action (section)

== History ==
{{see also|List of strikes}}
[[File:Theodor Kittelsen Streik 1879.jpg|thumb|''Strike action'' (1879), painting by [[Theodor Kittelsen]]]]

=== Origin of the term ===
The use of the English word "strike" to describe a work protest was first seen in 1768, when sailors, in support of [[Demonstration (political)|demonstration]]s in [[London]], "struck" or removed the [[topgallant sail]]s of merchant ships at port, thus crippling the ships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hyperhistory.org/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=746&op=page|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301153809/http://www.hyperhistory.org/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=746&op=page|url-status=dead|title=Strike!|first=Tony|last=Taylor|archive-date=2006-03-01|work=ozhistorybytes - Issue Eight: The History of Words|via=hyperhistory.org}}</ref><ref>"A body of sailors… proceeded… to Sunderland…, and at the cross there read a paper, setting forth their grievances… After this they went on board the several ships in that harbour, and struck (lowered down) their yards, in order to prevent them from proceeding to sea." (''Ann. Reg.'' 92, 1768), quoted in ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd ed., s.v. "strike, v.," sense 17; see also sense 24.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Worrall |first=Simon |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140831-pirates-horatio-nelson-samuel-adams-royal-navy-somalia-ngbooktalk/ |title=Were Modern Ideas—and the American Revolution—Born on Ships at Sea? |work=[[National Geographic]] |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |date=1 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831182929/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140831-pirates-horatio-nelson-samuel-adams-royal-navy-somalia-ngbooktalk/ |archive-date=31 August 2014 |access-date=31 August 2014 }}</ref>

=== Pre-industrial strikes ===
[[File:Il cosiddetto 'Papiro dello sciopero' scritto da Amunnakht Recto.tif|thumb|left|The so-called "Strike Papyrus" written by Amunnakht, between 1187 and 1157 BC, [[New Kingdom of Egypt]]. [[Museo Egizio]], Turin]]

The first historically certain account of strike action was in [[ancient Egypt]] on 14 November in 1152 BCE, when artisans of the Royal Necropolis at [[Deir el-Medina]] walked off their jobs in protest at the failure of the government of [[Ramesses III]] to pay their wages on time and in full.<ref>François Daumas, (1969). ''Ägyptische Kultur im Zeitalter der Pharaonen'', pp. 309. [[Knaur Verlag]], [[Munich]]</ref><ref>John Romer, ''Ancient Lives; the story of the Pharaoh's Tombmakers. London'': Phoenix Press, 1984, pp. 116–123 See also E.F. Wente, "A letter of complaint to the Vizier To", in ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', 20, 1961 and W.F. Edgerton, "The strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-ninth year", ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', 10, 1951.</ref> The royal government ended the strike by raising the artisans' wages.

The first [[Jewish]] source for the idea of a labor strike appears in the [[Talmud]], which records that the bakers who prepared [[showbread]] for the [[altar]] went on strike.<ref>Talmud Yoma 38a</ref>

An early predecessor of the [[general strike]] may have been the ''[[secessio plebis]]'' in [[ancient Rome]]. In ''[[The Outline of History]]'', [[H. G. Wells]] characterized this event as "the general strike of the [[plebeian]]s; the plebeians seem to have invented the strike, which now makes its first appearance in history."<ref name="H.G. Wells 1920, page 225">H.G. Wells, Outline of History, Waverly Book Company, 1920, page 225</ref> Their first strike occurred because they "saw with indignation their friends, who had often served the state bravely in the legions, thrown into chains and [[debt bondage|reduced to slavery]] at the demand of [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] creditors".<ref name="H.G. Wells 1920, page 225"/>

=== During and after the Industrial Revolution ===
[[File:"Der Streik" von Robert Koehler.jpg|thumb|Agitated workers face the factory owner in ''The Strike''. Painted by [[Robert Koehler]] in 1886.]]
The strike action only became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the [[Industrial Revolution]]. For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the industrial working class; they lived in towns and cities, exchanging their labor for payment. By the 1830s, when the [[Chartist movement]] was at its peak in Britain, a true and widespread 'workers consciousness' was awakening. In 1838, a [[Statistical Society of London]] committee "used the first written questionnaire… The committee prepared and printed a list of questions 'designed to elicit the complete and impartial history of strikes.'"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gault |first1=Robert |title=A History of the Questionnaire Method of Research in Psychology |journal=The Pedagogical Seminary |date=1907 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=366–383 |doi=10.1080/08919402.1907.10532551 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1430588}}</ref>

In 1842 the demands for fairer wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into the first modern [[1842 General Strike|general strike]]. After the second [[Chartism#1842|Chartist Petition]] was presented to Parliament in April 1842 and rejected, the strike began in the coal mines of [[Staffordshire]], [[England]], and soon spread through Britain affecting [[factories]], [[cotton mills]] in Lancashire and [[coal mine]]s from [[Dundee]] to [[South Wales]] and [[Cornwall]].<ref name="Plug Plot">{{cite book |chapter=The General Strike of 1842: A Study in Leadership, Organisation and the Threat of Revolution during the Plug Plot Disturbance|first1=F.C. |last1=Mather|publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd|title=Popular Protest and Public Order: Six Studies in British History, 1790–1920|year=1974|editor1-first=R.|editor1-last= Quinault|editor2-first= J.|editor2-last= Stevenson|isbn=978-1-003-18689-2|doi=10.4324/9781003186892-3|pages=115–140|s2cid=242636272 }}</ref> Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the mutinous masses, the strike was politically motivated and was driven by an agenda to win concessions. As much as half of the then industrial work force were on strike at its peak{{snd}}over 500,000 men.<ref>{{Cite web |title=British workers strike for better wages and political reform ("The Plug Plot Riots"), 1842 {{!}} Global Nonviolent Action Database |url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/british-workers-strike-better-wages-and-political-reform-plug-plot-riots-1842 |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu}}</ref> The local leadership marshaled a growing working class tradition to politically organize their followers to mount an articulate challenge to the capitalist, political establishment. [[Friedrich Engels]], an observer in [[London]] at the time, wrote:

<blockquote>''by its numbers, this class has become the most powerful in England, and woe betide the wealthy Englishmen when it becomes conscious of this fact … The English proletarian is only just becoming aware of his power, and the fruits of this awareness were the disturbances of last summer.''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/camatte/origin.htm|title=Camatte: Origin and Function of the Party Form|website=marxists.org}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Suurlakko Tampereella.jpg|thumb|A general strike on 5 November 1905 in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]]]]
As the 19th century progressed, strikes became a fixture of industrial relations across the industrialized world, as workers organized themselves to [[collectively bargain]] for better wages and standards with their employers. [[Karl Marx]] condemned the theory of [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] criminalizing strike action in his work ''[[The Poverty of Philosophy]]''.<ref>[[The Poverty of Philosophy]], Part II, Section 5</ref>

===Recognition strikes===
{{anchor|Recognition strike}}
A recognition strike is an industrial strike implemented in order to force a particular employer or industry to recognize a [[trade union]] as the legitimate collective bargaining agent for a company's workers.<ref name="uslegal">{{Cite web | url = https://definitions.uslegal.com/r/recognition-strike/ | title = Recognition Strike Law and Legal Definition  | website = definitions.uslegal.com}}</ref><ref name="incessant">{{Cite journal | title = Implications of Incessant Strike Actions on the Implementation of Technical Education Programme in Nigeria.| first = J. A.| last = Adavbiele| journal = Journal of Education and Practice|volume=6|issue=8|pages=134–138| date = 16 April 2015| s2cid = 167107092}}</ref><ref name= "manager">{{cite book| title = A Manager's Guide to Labor Relations Terminology| author = William R. Adams| page = 60| year = 1990| publisher= Adams, Nash & Haskell  }}</ref> In 1949, their use in the United States was described as "a weapon used with varying results by labor for the last forty years or more".  One example cited was the successful formation of the [[United Auto Workers]], which achieved recognition from [[General Motors]] through the [[Flint sit-down strike]] of 1936-37.<ref name="hein">{{Cite journal|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/upitt10&div=15&id=&page=|title=The Primary Strike for Recognition|first1=Charles C.|last1=Arensberg|journal=[[University of Pittsburgh Law Review]]|volume=10|page=137|date=1948–1949}}</ref> They were more common prior to the advent of modern American [[labor law]] (including the [[National Labor Relations Act]]), which introduced processes legally compelling an employer to recognize the legitimacy of properly certified unions.<ref name="hein"/><ref name="uslegal"/>

Two examples include the [[U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901]], and the subsequent [[coal strike of 1902]].<ref name="anthracite">{{cite web | url = http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/anthracitestrike.htm | title = The Great Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 | access-date  = 14 July 2008  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080621111119/http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/anthracitestrike.htm | archive-date = 21 June 2008}}</ref> A 1936 study of strikes in the United States indicated that about one third of the total number of strikes between 1927 and 1928, and over 40 percent in 1929, were due to "demands for union recognition, closed shop, and protest against union discrimination and violation of union agreements".<ref name="peterson">{{Cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L3cvAAAAYAAJ| title= Strikes in the United States, 1880-1936| first= Florence  | last= Peterson| date = 16 April 1938| page= 60| publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office| isbn= 978-0-403-01148-3| via= Google Books}}</ref> A 1988 study of strike activity and unionization in non-union municipal [[police departments]] between 1972 and 1978 found that recognition strikes were carried out "primarily where bargaining laws [provided] little or no protection of bargaining rights."<ref name="police">{{Cite journal | title= Police recognition strikes: Illegal and ill-fated| first= Casey| last= Ichniowski| date= 1 June 1988| journal = Journal of Labor Research| volume  = 9| issue   = 2| pages   = 183–197| doi= 10.1007/BF02685240| s2cid= 54211734}}</ref>

In 1937, there were 4,740 strikes in the United States.<ref>
"[http://www.uwlax.edu/teachhistory/Old%20Grants/Grant2/G2EducationResources/timeline2.htm Abbreviated Timeline of the Modern Labor Movement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029044945/http://www.uwlax.edu/teachhistory/Old%20Grants/Grant2/G2EducationResources/timeline2.htm |date=29 October 2012 }} ", University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
</ref> This was the greatest strike wave in [[American labor history]]. The number of major strikes and lockouts in the U.S. fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010. Companies countered the threat of a strike by threatening to close or move a plant.<ref name=census>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0663.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020114556/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0663.pdf|title=U.S. Census Bureau, ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012'' (2011) p 428 table 663|archive-date=20 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Aaron Brenner|title=The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHzk54IjNpEC&pg=PA234|year=2011|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|pages=234–35|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-0-7656-2645-5}}</ref>

The [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]], adopted in 1967, ensures the right to strike in Article 8. The [[European Social Charter]], adopted in 1961, also ensures the right to strike in Article 6.

[[Farah strike|The Farah Strike]], 1972–1974, labeled the "strike of the century," was organized and led by Mexican American women predominantly in El Paso, Texas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-best-of-the-texas-century-business/|title=The Best of the Texas Century—Business|date=20 January 2013|website=Texas Monthly|language=en|access-date=7 December 2018}}</ref>