Strikes and Lockouts (OI8670)

This metric is intended to capture the number of strikes and lockouts occurring among the organization's employees during the reporting period. Strikes and lockouts sometimes represent a breakdown in labor–management relations and a suspension of consultative processes. Data regarding the occurrence of such industrial incidents can usefully convey the state of labor–management relations and the direction of its progression over time. Strikes and lockouts must be set in the context of any limitations of local legislation and benchmarked against norms for inter-country, inter-industry, and inter-category comparisons. As employees take greater freedom in questioning their rights and respect in the workplace, organizations may observe strikes and lockouts increasing. As policies begin to take hold and change is effected, strikes and lockouts may then decrease.

An employee strike is a work stoppage caused by one or several of the following voluntary actions by a number of employees: reducing the normal performance of their employment, breaking their employment agreements, refusing or failing to accept engagement for work in which they are usually employed, reducing their normal output, or reducing their normal rate of work. A strike usually happens in response to employee grievances.

A lockout, also a work stoppage, is a temporary denial of employment initiated by the employer. Lockouts sometimes occur as a bargaining tactic by the employer in response to an employee strike.