On the picket line : a micro-view of labour relations

Abstract

One of the most contentious instruments available to trade unions is the right to strike. This is the legal withdrawal of labour, the equivalent of a lock-out by the employer .... Strikes and/or lockouts hurt all sides and ... should be strategies of the last resort. The threat of a strike or lockout. .. is a powerful deterrent in itself- or should be. But it doesn't always work that way.