Strikes and Unions Vocab

Collective bargaining

People organize into a group and select leaders who meet with management to review working conditions wage, benefits, e.t.c

Strike

Workers walk off their job until their demands are met

Boycott

Refusal to buy certain goods or shop in certain stores

Arbitration

Labor and management agree in advance to terms set by a third party and whatever is decided is binding (has to be followed)

Mediation

When a third party tries to negotiate between labor and management and suggests terms they might agree on and whatever is decided is non-binding (doesn’t have to be followed)

Lockdown/Lock-out

Employer closes factory and doesn’t allow workers to enter due to the potential for violence

Scabs/Strikebreakers

People who cross the picket line to take the striking workers jobs

Pinkertons

A private security agency whose purpose was to stop strikers from damaging company property

Blacklisted

When your name is put on a list and shared with other employers so no one will hire you

“Yellow-Dog” contract

Potential employees had to sign an agreement before they were hired saying they wouldn’t join the union and if they did they would be fired

Closed shop

If you were hired by a company that had a labor union you had to be a member

Open shop

If you are hired by a company that has a labor union you may choose to join