Solidarity action (also known as secondary action, a secondary boycott, a solidarity strike, or a sympathy strike) is

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in a separate corporation, but often the same enterprise, group of companies, or connected firm. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Latvia, Luxembourg, the United States, and the United Kingdom, solidarity action is theoretically illegal, and strikes can only be against the contractual

employer Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

. Germany, Italy and Spain have restrictions in place that restrict the circumstances in which solidarity action can take place (see European labour law). The term "secondary action" is often used with the intention of distinguishing different types of trade dispute with a worker's direct contractual employer. Thus, a secondary action is a dispute with the employer's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, its suppliers,

financiers An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

, contracting parties, or any other employer in another industry.

Australia

In Australia, secondary boycotts are prohibited by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010., sections 45D to 45DD. In the 1910s, sympathy strikes were sometimes called to extend a strike beyond the bounds of an

Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...

to make it eligible for handling by the federal arbitration court.

Germany

Secondary action is generally prohibited, unless it satisfies the multiple criteria: * no promotion of strikers’ own interests; * direct effect on a party in the primary dispute; * proportionality and fairness to the objective. The secondary action is also legal if there is a close relationship between the target in the secondary dispute and the primary dispute, on the premise that in such case the secondary target can influence the primary one.

Italy

Solidarity action is generally a crime per article 505 of the . However, the Constitutional Court (Decision No. 123 of 1962), while acknowledging the legitimacy of the section, recognized the lawfulness of secondary strikes if genuine commonality of interest is present. In particular, a solidarity action may be legitimate to protest the dismissal of workers by a company in a particular industry.

Latvia

Secondary action is illegal, unless its objective is to facilitate a general agreement.

The Netherlands

In 2014 the high council of the Netherlands ruled that solidarity strikes are in principle legal, when the involved secondary parties are not disproportionately affected.

Poland

In Polish law the solidarity strike is permitted only for a maximum length of half a day, and only in solidarity with the sectors that themselves do not have the right to strike (e.g. police, military).

Spain

Secondary action is generally unlawful, however, the Constitutional Court had recognized their legality if there is at least a minimum convergence of interest, as established by courts on a case-by-case basis, between the participants in the primary and secondary strikes.

Sweden

Solidarity action rights in Sweden are very broad. In particular, there are no requirements for either reasonable proportion between the primary and secondary actions, or a connection to the targeted parties. Moreover, the peace obligation does not apply to the secondary action, the general prohibition of industrial action against a neutral third party is lifted, and permissible actions are not limited to

walk-out In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest. A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...

s (can include boycotts, blockades, etc.).

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, sympathy strikes were outlawed by the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927 in the aftermath of the

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. That was repealed by the

Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1946 The Trade Disputes And Trade Unions Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. VI c. 52) was a British Act of Parliament passed by post-war Labour government to repeal the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927. Repeal The Act was repealed by the Schedule 1 of the ...

, passed by the postwar Labour Government. Solidarity action remained legal until 1980, when the government of Margaret Thatcher passed the Employment Act 1980 to restrict it. That was followed by the Employment Act 1990, which outlawed solidarity action entirely. The laws outlawing solidarity strikes remain to this day, as codified by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Section 224). In 2005, union leaders called for the legalization of solidarity strikes in the aftermath of the strike action against the catering company Gate Gourmet, but Labour ministers stated that they had no intention of repealing the law. British Airways staff walked out in solidarity, however.

United States

Secondary boycotting is frequently confused with secondary striking, also a prohibited tactic for labour unions covered by the Taft–Hartley Act. Some legal definitions for secondary boycotting divide it into two different kinds: secondary consumer boycotts according to the above definition of secondary boycotts, and secondary employee boycotts, also defined as a secondary strike. Because farm laborers in the United States are not covered by the Wagner Act, the United Farm Workers union has legally used solidarity boycotting of grocery store chains to aid to its strikes against California

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

and its primary boycotts of California grapes, lettuce and wine. Its secondary boycotts involved asking consumers to stop shopping at a grocery store chain until the chain stopped carrying the boycotted grapes, lettuce, or wine.

Notes

References

*M Kite and T Freinberg, 'Unions to Challenge Blair Over Ban on Secondary Strikes' (''Daily Telegraph'', 27 August 2005). * {{Organized labor, sp=ox Community organizing Protest tactics Labor disputes Labour law