Strike - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition strike

Definition :

Strike, is of an artificial character and does not represent any legal definition or description. It is an agreement between persons who are working for a particular employer, not to continue working for him, Bankey Lal v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1959 All 614: (1957) 2 Lab LJ 231.

Means a total or partial cessation of work by employees employed in an industrial undertaking acting in combination or a concerted refusal or a refusal under a common understanding of em-ployees to continue to work or to accept work where such cessation or refusal is in consequence of an industrial dispute in any industry, Mill Manager, Model Mills Nagpur Ltd. v. Dharam Das, AIR 1958 SC 311.

Strike. The (English) Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5, c. 22), by s. 8 provides:-

The expression 'strike' means the cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any trade or industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal under a common understanding of any number of persons who are or have been so employed, to continue to work or to accept employment;

The expression 'lock-out' means the closing of a place of employment or the suspension or work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him inconsequence of a dispute, done with a view to compelling persons employed by him to accept terms or conditions or conditions of or affecting employment; a strike or lock-out shall not be deemed to be calculated to coerce the Government unless such coercion ought reasonably be expected as a consequence thereof.

As to the legality of strikes generally, see Jose v. Metallic Roofing Co. of Canada, 1903 AC 514; Russell v. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Jointers, 1912 AC 421. See TRADE DISPUTE.

S. 1 provides:

(1) (a) That any strike is illegal if it--

(i) has any object otherwise or in addition to the furtherance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the strikers are engaged; and

(ii) is a strike designed or calculated to coerce the Government either directly or by inflicting hard-ship upon the community; and

(b) that any lock-out is illegal if it--

(i) has any object othr than or in addition to the furtherance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the employers locking out are engaged; and

(ii) is a lock-out designed or calculated to coerce the Government either directly or by inflicting hard-ship upon the community.

(4) The provisions of the Trades Disputes Act, 1906, shall not, nor shall the several provisos to sub-s. (1) of s. two of the Emergency Powers Act, 1920, apply to any act done in contemplation or furtherance of a strike or lock-out which is by the Act declared to be illegal, and any such act shall not be deemed for the purposes of any enactment to be done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. See TRADE DISPUTE.

Means a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal, under a common understanding of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept employment. [Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), s. 2(q)]

If stoppage of work fell withinthe definition of a 'strike' in s. 2(q) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, s. 2(q) defines strike as 'a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept employment', Buckingham and Carnatic Co. Ltd. v. Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Co. Ltd., AIR 1953 SC 47: (1953) SCR 219.

1. An organised cessation or slowdown of work by employees to compel the employer to meet the employees' demand 2. The removal of a pro-spective juror from jury panel 3. A failure or disadvantage, as by a criminal conviction, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1435-36.