ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

On the Job

Unions in the Workplace

Are all strikes legal?

No. Although the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) grants employees the right to strike, not all strikes are protected. If a collective bargaining agreement contains a no-strike clause (the union agrees not to go on strike while the contract is in effect), a strike during the life of the contract would not be protected. The strikers could be fired.

The NLRA requires health-care workers to give ten days notice before they go on strike. If these workers strike without giving notice, then they are not protected and can be fired.

Sit-down strikes and intermittent strikes are also unprotected. An example of an intermittent strike is when employees engage in a five-hour work stoppage one day, then two days later engage in another five-hour work stoppage, and then two days later do it again.