Strikebreaker

Pinkerton agents escort strikebreakers in Buchtel, Ohio, 1884
Industrial Workers of the World stickerette "Don't Scab"

A strikebreaker (sometimes pejoratively called a scab, blackleg, bootlicker, blackguard or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers may be current employees (union members or not), or new hires to keep the organization running (hired after or during the strike). In continuing to work, or taking jobs at a workplace under current strike, strikebreakers are said to "cross picket lines".

Some countries have passed laws outlawing strikebreakers to give more power to trade unions, while other countries have passed right-to-work laws which protect strikebreakers.


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