Clark Kerr's most succint statement on the variety of industrial conflict is applauded by
by Elridge who says that he has not come across such a vivid definition:
Clark Kerr says '
industrial conflict has more than one aspect; for the manifestattion of hostility is not confined to no single outlet.
Its means of expression are as unlimited as the ingenuity of man.The strike is the most common and most visible expression. But conflict with the employer may also take the form of peaceful bargaining and grievance handling, of boycotts, of political action, of restriction of output, of sabotage, of absenteeism, or of personal turnover. Several of thse forms such as sabotage, restriction of output, absenteeism and turnover take place on an individual as well as on an organised basis and constitute alternatives to collective action. Even the strike itself is of many varieties. It may involve all the workers, or the key men. It may take the form of refusal to work overtime, or to perform a certain process. It may even involve such rigid adherence to rules that output is stifled".
Strikes can be viewed as conflicts that become overt. Strikes occur when there is 'a break down in the flow of consent'. As an expression of workers' grievances, strikes provide an outlet for accumulated tensions and therefore are seen as a 'safety valve'. Strikes are an expression of a desire for social change and serve as a substitute for occupational and social mobility. Since strikes are seen as the main weapon of workers to redress the balance of inequality in power relations, strikes are also considered as a means of countervailing employers' powers.
Besides 'sit down', 'stay in' and even 'lie down' strikes, strikes take different forms (Knowles:' Strikes-A Study in Industrial Conflict, 1954). For example, in
'Running Sore Strikes', transport workers may refuse to run the last trip on the schedule over a period pending settlement. This may also take the form of over-time work refusal.
'Token strike' is seen as a method of underlining a threat of serious strike action. In
'Bumper Strike', workers, while fighting out a grievance with one firm, persuade the workers in rival firms to increase production as much as possible. As orders are likely to be placed by customers on rivals firms, the workers in conflict with the firm thus bring economic pressure on the employer. In
'Pearl' or '
Irritation' strike, workers remain at the work spot and do everything wrong.
Doten in his work entitled 'Waste in Industry' (page 314) writes that strikes are merely symptoms of more fundamental maladjustments, injustices and economic disturbances. He goes on to add that treating the symptoms rarely reaches the roots of the disease. For him, suppressing strikes will be conter-productive in the sense that it will not cure social unrest; but will probably increase it.
Strikes tend to disappear when labour market remains more tightly organised, thus paving the way for solidaristic union-management relations. Since strike is a 'licensed revolt against society/authority' , is is a means whereby men who manage are forced into decision making by those men whom they manage. Strike causes a shift from a stringency to a leniency pattern in relations. Though workers' feelings of powerlessness produce strike, strike is designed or calculated to coerce either directly or indirectly by inflicting hardship on the community. In employer-employee relations 'antagonistic cooperation' exists, and when strike strikes at the root of such a relationship, cooperation becomes a casualty and is kept in suspended animation during the course of cessation of work. Looking at strikes from a different angle, strikes are an inspiration. Strikes help achieve stock depletion and thus strengthen bargaining power. A question may arise whether 'there is positive or negative correlation between strike and economic impact'? The simple answer is that 'impact is nil in a competitive market'. However, 'impact is felt in a monopolistic market'.