A police strike is a potential tactic when law enforcement workers are embroiled in a labour dispute. Sometimes military personnel are called in to keep order or discipline the strikers. Police strikes have the potential to cause civil unrest.
Police officers in the United Kingdom are currently banned from taking strike action under the Police Act 1996. Police officers have been banned from striking since the passage of the Police Act 1919. The Police Federation of England and Wales balloted members in 2013 for the right to strike but failed to gain enough signatures to petition the government to amend the legislation. [30]
One cause for police strikes has been increases in the difficulty of policing itself. The wave of American police strikes in the late 1960s and 1970s accompanied other forms of social unrest—which themselves put pressure on police forces. Also, police wages, which had historically been exceptional, declined relative to the wages of other workers.[ which? ] [31] Police strikes have also occurred in situations where national control was in question and the police's alignment differed from the current rulers (i.e. in occupied France and India).
The Boston police strike occurred on September 9, 1919, when Boston police officers went on strike seeking recognition for their trade union and improvements in wages and working conditions. Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis denied that police officers had any right to form a union, much less one affiliated with a larger organization like the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which some attribute to concerns that unionized police would not protect the interest of city officials and business leaders. Attempts at reconciliation between the Commissioner and the police officers, particularly on the part of Boston's mayor, Andrew James Peters, failed.
The Baltimore Police Strike was a 1974 labor action conducted by officers of the Baltimore Police Department. Striking officers sought better wages and changes to BPD policy. They also expressed solidarity with Baltimore municipal workers, who were in the midst of an escalating strike action that began on July 1. On July 7, police launched a campaign of intentional misbehavior and silliness; on July 11 they began a formal strike. The department reported an increase in fires and looting, and the understaffed BPD soon received support from Maryland State Police. The action ended on July 15, when union officials negotiated an end to both strikes. The city promised police officers a wage increase in 1975, but refused amnesty for the strikers. Police Commissioner Donald Pomerleau revoked the union's collective bargaining rights, fired its organizers, and pointedly harassed its members.
The 1918–19 British police strikes in the United Kingdom resulted in the British government putting before Parliament its proposals for a Police Act, which established the Police Federation of England and Wales and Scottish Police Federation as the representative bodies for the police. The Act barred police from belonging to a trade union or affiliating with any other trade union body. This Act, drafted and passed into law, was passed in response to the formation of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers (NUPPO). A successful police strike in 1918 and another strike in June 1919 led to the suppression of the union by the government. On 1 August 1919, the Police Act 1919 passed into law. Only token opposition from a minority of Labour Members of Parliament was voiced in Parliament.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first strike that spread across multiple states in the U.S. The strike finally ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other states, from New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike. An estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country. In Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads—engines and railroad cars. Some locals feared that workers were rising in revolution, similar to the Paris Commune of 1871, while others joined their efforts against the railroads.
The 2006 São Paulo violence outbreak began on the night of May 12, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America. It was among the worst outbreaks of violence in recorded Brazilian history and was directed against security forces and a few civilian targets. By May 14 the attacks had spread to other Brazilian states including Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais and Bahia.
The 1983 Arizona copper mine strike began as a labour dispute between the Phelps Dodge Corporation and a group of union copper miners and mill workers, led by the United Steelworkers. The subsequent strike lasted nearly three years and resulted in the replacement of most of the striking workers and decertification of the unions. It is regarded as an important event in the history of the United States labor movement.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has consistently fought for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, and it has resisted efforts to vary teacher pay based on performance evaluations. It has also pushed for improvements in the Chicago schools, and since its inception argued that its activities benefited students as well as teachers.
The Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913 and the subsequent police mutiny and riots was a civil conflict in Indianapolis, Indiana. The events began as a workers strike by the union employees of the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company and their allies on Halloween night, October 31, 1913. The company was responsible for public transportation in Indianapolis, the capital city and transportation hub of the U.S. state of Indiana. The unionization effort was being organized by the Amalgamated Street Railway Employees of America who had successfully enforced strikes in other major United States cities. Company management suppressed the initial attempt by some of its employees to unionize and rejected an offer of mediation by the United States Department of Labor, which led to a rapid rise in tensions, and ultimately the strike. Government response to the strike was politically charged, as the strike began during the week leading up to public elections. The strike effectively shut down mass transit in the city and caused severe interruptions of statewide rail transportation and the 1913 city elections.
Industrial violence refers to acts of violence which occur within the context of industrial relations. These disputes can involve employers and employees, unions, employer organisations and the state. There is not a singular theory which can explain the conditions under which industrial conflicts become violent. However, there are a variety of partial explanations provided by theoretical frameworks on collective violence, social conflict and labor protest and militancy.
The Belfast Dock strike or Belfast lockout took place in Belfast, Ireland from 26 April to 28 August 1907. The strike was called by Liverpool-born trade union leader James Larkin who had successfully organised the dock workers to join the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL). The dockers, both Protestant and Catholic, had gone on strike after their demand for union recognition was refused. They were soon joined by carters, shipyard workers, sailors, firemen, boilermakers, coal heavers, transport workers, and women from the city's largest tobacco factory. Most of the dock labourers were employed by powerful tobacco magnate Thomas Gallaher, chairman of the Belfast Steamship Company and owner of Gallaher's Tobacco Factory.
The 1974 Baltimore municipal strike was a strike action undertaken by different groups of municipal workers in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It was initiated by waste collectors seeking higher wages and better conditions. They were joined by sewer workers, zookeepers, prison guards, highway workers, recreation & parks workers, animal control workers, abandoned vehicles workers, and eventually by police officers. Trash piled up during the strike, and, especially with diminished police enforcement, many trash piles were set on fire. City jails were also a major site for unrest.
The St. Petersburg sanitation strike of 1968 was a labor strike by city sanitation workers in St. Petersburg, Florida that lasted an estimated four months. The strike of 1968 was one of three labor strikes that took place within three years by city sanitation workers, who cited grievances of pay inequality and poor working conditions. A wage dispute over a newly implemented 48-hour work week triggered the sanitation strike which lasted 116 days. 211 sanitation workers participated in the work stoppage, 210 of whom were African-American. The racial makeup of the strikers increased tensions surrounding the work stoppage and impaired social race relations in the city.Strikers participated in nonviolent marches, economic boycotts, picketing, and human blockades which eventually turned violent with four nights of riots. During the four-month strike, sanitation crew chief Joe Savage led nearly 40 marches down to City Hall, and participated in nonviolent protests which resulted in mass arrests. The strike gained the attention of local and national civil rights advocates, designating this as a significant event in the city's history.
The Fight for $15 is an American political movement advocating for the minimum wage to be raised to USD$15 per hour. The federal minimum wage was last set at $7.25 per hour in 2009. The movement has involved strikes by child care, home healthcare, airport, gas station, convenience store, and fast food workers for increased wages and the right to form a labor union. The "Fight for $15" movement started in 2012, in response to workers' inability to cover their costs on such a low salary, as well as the stressful work conditions of many of the service jobs which pay the minimum wage.
The 1877 St. Louis general strike was one of the first general strikes in the United States. It grew out of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The strike was largely organized by the Knights of Labor and the Marxist-leaning Workingmen's Party, the main radical political party of the era.
The Denver streetcar strike of 1920 was a labor action and series of urban riots in downtown Denver, Colorado, beginning on August 1, 1920, and lasting six days. Seven were killed and 50 were seriously injured in clashes among striking streetcar workers, strike-breakers, local police, federal troops and the public. This was the "largest and most violent labor dispute involving transportation workers and federal troops".
The Scranton general strike was a widespread work stoppage in 1877 by workers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which took place as part of the Great Railroad Strike, and was the last in a number of violent outbreaks across Pennsylvania. The strike began on July 23 when railroad workers walked off the job in protest of recent wage cuts, and within three days it grew to include perhaps thousands of workers from a variety of industries.
The Baltimore railroad strike of 1877 involved several days of work stoppage and violence in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1877. It formed a part of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, during which widespread civil unrest spread nationwide following the global depression and economic downturns of the mid-1870s. Strikes broke out along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on July 16, the same day that 10% wage reductions were scheduled.
The Chicago railroad strike of 1877 was a series of work stoppages and civil unrest in Chicago, Illinois, which occurred as part of the larger national strikes and rioting of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Meetings of working men in Chicago on July 26 led to workers from a number of industries striking on the following morning, and over the next few days, large crowds gathered throughout the city, resulting in violent clashes with police. By the time order was restored on the evening of July 26, 14 to 30 rioters were dead or dying, and 35 to 100 civilian and nine to 13 policemen were wounded.
The 2017 Military Police of Espírito Santo strike was a strike by the Military Police of Espírito Santo State from 4 to 25 February 2017.
The 1911 Grand Rapids furniture workers' strike was a general strike performed by furniture workers in Grand Rapids, which was then a national leader of furniture production.
Civilian Parisians, sensing freedom for the first time in four years, began to harass the Germans in any way they could. Communist resistance workers seized the opportunity to openly oppose the Germans. They infiltrated the Paris police force, many of whom were frightened by their record of enthusiastic co-operation during the Occupation, they had rounded up French Jews even the Nazis were prepared to leave alone Participation in the police strike starting 15 August was good insurance for their future. The strike, coupled with news that day of more Allied landings off St Tropez, ignited the resentments and hopes of Parisians and, urged on by the communists, an uprising was borne.
The Slovenian police officers will continue to strike in the night of Monday to Tuesday. The next strike will last 48 hours, thus ending on Wednesday at midnight.
Police had planned to demonstrate before, during and after the matches to draw attention to their demand for a pay raise up to 15 percent. The police won a court ruling in Amsterdam on Friday affirming their right to strike.
The strike by police officers continues as the government refused on Thursday to confirm an agreement with the Police Trade Union, which it initialled on Wednesday and which takes into account the majority of the union's demands. The demands included salaries of police officers to increase compared to other public sector employees. The union has presented studies showing that Slovenian police officers deserved a salary that would amount to the average of police pay in the EU.
A temporary truce in the six-day 'sick call' strike by police was in effect today after policeman agreed to return to work and the city promised it would lift the suspensions of more than 190 officers.
As 20,000 city patrolmen refused to man their posts for a fourth day, negotiators intensified efforts Sunday to settle the walkout, spurred by a warning from the commissioner that his skeleton police force can keep going for only a few more days.
Most of the city's 1,935 policemen walked off the job Monday after the board of supervisors approved a 6.5 per cent pay raise—half of what police had demanded. The strike left the city short of protection, but no major upswing in crime was reported.
The mayor of this eastern U.S. city—one of three hit by municipal strikes yesterday—called striking policeman 'hoodlums' yesterday and pleaded for National Guard protection. [...] The wildcat strike by 2,000 Cleveland police officers and supervisory personnel left only a handful of high-ranking police officials to guard the city of 800,000. Other city workers, with the exception of firemen, honored police picket lines, crippling city services. The strike had no immediate effect on the city, except for flocks of prostitutes who openly flaunted their wares in the muggy summer weather...
Between 650 and 1,000 of the city's 1,500 police officers had been on strike, many since Thursday night.
Birmingham police officers struck last night, and the rest of the city's 4,000 employees were expected to join them this morning in a dispute about health insurance.
Four of the striking unions—Local 7 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; the Toledo Police Patrolmen's Association; Fire Fighters Local 92; and Teamsters Local 20—represent about 750 police, 600 firefighters and more than 2,000 non-uniformed employees.
The 100 officers on the force walked off the job late last Wednesday in a dispute that centered as much on a proposed merit system as on financial issues.
He said when the strike was declared that statements by Nabors about the shootings of the two officers early Wednesday were 'the straw that broke the camel's back' and prompted the wildcat strike. In a television interview Wednesday night, Nabors said the shooting of the two officers might have been caused by the suspect's fear of police. By 9 p.m., an hour after the strike was declared, all seven district police stations were closed, the doors were locked, and citizens were not being admitted.
After calling a strike for higher wages, most of Corona's 40-man police force was believed to be hiding out in Arizona to avoid being cited in violation of state laws barring walkouts by public employees, city officials said.
Federal troops were sent Friday to patrol Salvador and other Bahia state cities as violence has escalated in the wake of a strike by police and state military troops.
Police in the Brazilian state of Alagoas have gone on strike, in a continuing national crisis over pay. The strike began on Wednesday, just a day after police in the neighbouring state of Bahia ended a similar 12-day campaign after accepting a 21% pay offer.
There have been major delays at airports across Brazil after more than 8,000 federal police officers began an indefinite strike for higher pay.
Some 3,500 soldiers clashed with Brazilian police, who have been on strike outside the assembly in the state capital of Salvador since last week, BBC News reported. The soldiers surrounded the building and fired rubber bullets and charged the crowd of about 4,000 police and their families, who are camped out in the legislative building, the Associated Press reported. The government told the BBC that about one third of Bahia's 30,000 state police officers are involved in the strike. Police in the state of Bahia declared a strike last Tuesday to demand higher wages and better working conditions, CNN International reported. Since then, 93 people have been killed, double the number in the same period last year, according to CNN. There have also been multiple reports of looting, according to the AP.
Despite the presence of the National Force and the Army, the State had another violent day: one shot hit a bus, there was a shootout in the neighborhood of Santa Rita and, in Serra, a condominium was invaded. Since Friday, relatives of police officers have been demonstrating in front of Military Police precincts.
Virtually all stores of the International Settlement were closed early today in fear of robberies as 3000 Chinese policemen struck for higher wages and larger rice allowances. Except for a small body of foreign soldiers, volunteer police, and 250 White Russians, the Settlement was without protection.
Tear-gas was used to disperse a procession of about 100 policemen on a hunger strike in Old Delhi to-day. Eighty-six policemen were arrested after British troops, with fixed bayonets, had cordoned off the procession. They have been charged with inciting other policemen to mutiny. The striking policemen are demanding increased wages and allowances. About 2000 are now involved.
A number of people has been killed in demonstrations in Alexandria, where the entire police force of 3000 officers and men is now on strike for increased pay.
NIGERIAN police have gone on strike for the first time for better pay and conditions.
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has generic name (help)The causes of the sudden upsurge of police militancy in the last two decades lie in the changing conditions of policing. In large measure, today's police are moved to collective action by the realization that the declining legitimacy of the state subjects them to the explicit hostility of large segments of the population. Police work has become harder. As the degree of race and class conflict intensifies, the police assume a more demanding role both in repressing strikes and demonstrations and in attempting to contain the escalating level of crime. They are attacked, on the one hand, by progressive groups demanding the curtailment of their coercive power and, on the other hand, by reactionary elements calling for law and order and increased police efficiency. I