Legal Definitions - slowdown

A slowdown is a deliberate and coordinated action by employees to intentionally reduce their output or the pace of their work, as a tactic to exert pressure on their employer to achieve specific demands or concessions. Unlike a strike, where workers stop working entirely, a slowdown involves workers continuing to perform their duties but at a significantly reduced efficiency or speed.

• Example 1: Manufacturing Plant

  Workers at an automobile assembly plant are negotiating for better health insurance benefits. Frustrated with the lack of progress, they collectively decide to perform their tasks with extreme precision, taking extra time to double-check every bolt and connection, even if it means assembling significantly fewer cars per shift than usual. While they are still working and following safety protocols, their output drops by 30%. This organized reduction in the pace of work is a slowdown, designed to disrupt production and pressure management to agree to their demands for improved benefits.

• Example 2: Public Transportation System

  Bus drivers in a major city are seeking a pay raise and improved working conditions. Instead of going on strike, they agree among themselves to strictly adhere to every single traffic rule, speed limit, and passenger boarding procedure, no matter how minor, taking extra time at each stop and driving at the absolute minimum legal speed. This results in significant delays across all routes, causing inconvenience for commuters and disrupting the city's transportation schedule. This coordinated effort to reduce efficiency and service speed, without stopping work, is a slowdown aimed at pressuring the city transit authority to meet their demands.

• Example 3: Software Development Company

  Software engineers at a tech company are unhappy with mandatory weekend work and decide to push back. They don't refuse to work, but they collectively begin to meticulously document every line of code, engage in lengthy internal discussions about minor design choices, and spend extended periods reviewing each other's work, far beyond the usual time allocated. This dramatically slows down the development cycle for new features and bug fixes, causing project deadlines to slip. This intentional reduction in productivity and acceleration of project timelines, while still performing their jobs, constitutes a slowdown intended to force management to reconsider the weekend work policy.