wildcat strike

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English[edit]

WOTD – 1 May 2020

Etymology[edit]

From wildcat (“attributive use of the noun to refer to actions or statements that are illegal or risky”)[1] + strike.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

wildcat strike (plural wildcat strikes)

  1. (organized labour) A labour strike that has not been authorized by the leaders of a trade union.
    Synonym: (clipping) wildcat
    • 1963, Austin Fagothey, “Work and Wages”, in Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice, 3rd edition, St. Louis, Mo.: C. V. Mosby Company, →OCLC, page 399:
      Organized workers must have their strike backed by the union. If the employer can bargain with his workers only through the union, the workers must also use the same channel. Hence "wildcat" strikes are outlawed, unless the circumstances are so unusual that the unions have ceased really to represent the workers and are repudiated by them.
    • 1969, George G. Bruntz, John Bremer, “Labor Policy and Social Security”, in American Government, Boston, Mass.: Ginn and Company, →OCLC, unit IX (Government and the General Welfare), page 478:
      It [the Taft–Hartley Act] labels certain union practices as "unfair" and permits the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] to take action to stop them. These unfair practices include wildcat strikes (walking off the job without taking a strike vote), sympathy strikes (striking to demonstrate support of strikers in another company), jurisdictional strikes (disputes between unions over their right to represent workers), secondary boycotts (refusal of workers to handle goods made by some other company whose workers are striking), and featherbedding (requiring an employer to use unnecessary labor).
    • 1977 September 23, “Statement of the National Association of Manufacturers on Amendments to the National Labor Relations Act Presented to the Subcommittee on Labor of the Committee on Human Resources, U.S. Senate, September 23, 1977”, in Labor Reform Act of 1977: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session, on S. 1883 to Amend the National Labor Relations Act to Strengthen the Remedies and Expedite the Procedures under such Act and Related Bills […] Part 1 […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 691:
      Despite the progressive provisions of the 1974 labor agreement, there were more wildcat strikes in the bituminous coal industry in 1974 than ever before in history. The record in 1975 was worse than in 1974; in 1976 it was worse than in 1975; and 1977 is headed toward yet another record high in wildcat strike activity.
    • 1984, “The Foreman/Supervisor’s Role in Labor Relations”, in Carl Heyel, H. W. Nance, editors, The Foreman/Supervisor’s Handbook, 5th edition, New York, N.Y.: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, →DOI, →ISBN, section 4 (Cooperative Personnel Responsibilities), page 410:
      The wildcat strike differs considerably from authorized strikes. In the first place, the wildcat generally comes as a complete surprise, while management is usually notified well in advance when an authorized strike is to take place. [...] Once the walkout starts, the supervisor’s labor relations job is twofold: to prevent the wildcat strike’s spread; and to put into writing information that would support the company’s discipline of wildcatters as set forth in the contract and in law.
    • 2007, Jie Shen, “Trade Unions”, in Labour Disputes and Their Resolution in China (Chandos Asian Studies Series: Contemporary Issues and Trends), Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:
      During the past two decades, as the incidence of industrial disputes, wildcat strikes, and mass workers' disputes became widespread in China, the question of union organisation has drawn increasing attention both at home and abroad.

Hyponyms[edit]

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Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “wild cat, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1924; “wildcat, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

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