Legal Definitions - offensive lockout

An offensive lockout occurs when an employer proactively prevents its employees from working, not in response to a strike or an immediate threat of one, but as a strategic maneuver to gain leverage in collective bargaining negotiations. The employer's primary goal is to pressure the union and its members to accept new contract terms that are more favorable to the company, such as lower wages, reduced benefits, or changes in work rules. It is a tactic used by management to force a settlement on its own terms.

• Example 1: Wage Reduction Demand

  A regional airline is negotiating a new contract with its pilots' union. The airline proposes a significant reduction in pilot salaries and an increase in flight hours. When the union rejects these terms, the airline immediately announces that all pilots are locked out and will not be allowed to fly until they agree to the proposed contract, effectively grounding flights.

  This illustrates an offensive lockout because the airline initiated the work stoppage to compel the union to accept its proposed wage and hour changes, rather than reacting to a strike or an imminent threat of one from the pilots.

• Example 2: New Technology Implementation

  A major newspaper publisher wants to implement new automated printing technology that would reduce the number of required press operators. During contract negotiations, the union resists these changes, fearing job losses. To force the union's acceptance of the new technology and associated staffing reductions, the publisher locks out its pressroom employees, preventing them from operating the existing presses until an agreement is reached.

  This scenario demonstrates an offensive lockout because the employer is using the lockout as a proactive measure to pressure the union into accepting specific new work processes and staffing levels that the company desires, without the employees having initiated any work stoppage.

• Example 3: Changes to Pension Benefits

  A manufacturing plant is in stalled negotiations with its production workers' union over a proposed change to their pension plan, which would shift from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution system. Frustrated with the lack of progress and the union's refusal to budge, the plant management announces a lockout, preventing all unionized production workers from entering the facility until the union accepts the revised pension package.

  This is an offensive lockout because the manufacturing plant initiated the lockout to gain a strategic advantage in negotiations and compel the union to agree to its proposed changes to the pension benefits, without the workers having initiated a strike or slowdown.