Strike action

Strike action (or simply a strike) is the mass refusal by groups of workers to perform work. Strikes first became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries they were quickly made illegal as factory owners had far more political power than the workers. Most western countries legalized striking partially in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Related Topics:
Industrial revolution - Labour - Factories - Mine

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Strikes have also been used to force governments to change policies or even to bring down a government. A notable example is the Gda?sk shipyard strike led by Lech Wa??sa. This strike was signifigant in the struggle for democratic freedom in Poland, and was an important milestone along the way to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Related Topics:
Lech Wa??sa - Poland

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Sometimes the term "caught the blue flu" is used to refer to individuals who are on strike.

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The strike tactic has a very long history. Towards the end of the 20th dynasty, under Pharaoh Ramses III in Egypt, i.e. about 3,500 years ago, the workers of the royal necropolis organized the first known strike or workers' uprising in history. The event was reported in detail on a papyrus at the time, which has been preserved, and is currently located in Turin (source: François Daumas, Ägyptische Kultur im Zeitalter der Pharaonen. Munich: Knaur Verlag, 1969, p. 309).

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