Legal Definitions - organizational strike

An organizational strike occurs when employees collectively stop working with the primary goal of compelling their employer to recognize a specific labor union as their official bargaining representative. The workers are not necessarily striking over wages, benefits, or working conditions at this stage, but rather to gain the employer's acknowledgment and agreement to negotiate with the union on behalf of the employees.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a group of software engineers at a growing tech company who have formed a union. They have approached company management multiple times, requesting that the company formally recognize their union so they can begin collective bargaining. When management repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the union, the engineers decide to stage a walkout, halting their work until the company agrees to recognize their union. This action is an organizational strike because its central purpose is to force the employer to accept the union as the legitimate representative of the employees.

• Consider a large chain of grocery stores where employees across several locations have been organizing to form a union. After successfully gathering enough support and following all legal procedures to establish their union, they present their petition for recognition to the corporate headquarters. When the company's leadership dismisses their request and states they will not negotiate with the union, the employees at the affected stores decide to stop working and picket outside the stores. This collective work stoppage is an organizational strike, as the employees' immediate objective is to gain formal recognition for their union from the employer.

• A group of adjunct professors at a private university has formed an association to represent their interests. They have sought to be recognized by the university administration as the official bargaining unit for all adjunct faculty. After months of the administration delaying or outright refusing to meet with the association's representatives regarding recognition, the adjunct professors decide to withhold their teaching services and refuse to grade papers. This concerted action is an organizational strike because the professors' primary demand is for the university to formally acknowledge and bargain with their union.