strike pay
{{Short description|Payment by a trade union to workers on strike}}
Strike pay is a payment made by a trade union to workers who are on strike to help in meeting their basic needs while on strike, often out of a special reserve known as a strike fund. Union workers reason that the availability of strike pay increases their leverage at the bargaining table and actually decreases the probability of a strike, since the employers are aware that their employees have this financial resource available to them if they choose to strike.{{Cite web |title=The Value of a Strike Fund |url=http://www.unitedafa.org/contract/negotiations/strike/value/default.aspx |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180313214600/http://unitedafa.org/contract/negotiations/strike/value/default.aspx |archive-date=2018-03-13 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.unitedafa.org}}{{Failed verification|date=February 2025}} When workers strike, they can also subsist using pre-strike income and savings.{{Cite journal |last=Gennard |first=John |date=1981 |title=The Effects of Strike Activity on Households |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1981.tb01119.x |journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations |language=en |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=327–344 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8543.1981.tb01119.x |issn=1467-8543}}
It has also been used in Australian law to mean payments by employers to compensate lost earnings by employees during industrial action.{{Cite journal |last=Wheelwright |first=Karen |date=2013-12-01 |title=Bearing the Economic Loss of Industrial Action: The Payment of Striking Employees under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) |url=https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/dlr/article/view/40 |journal=Deakin Law Review |language=en |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=292–314 |doi=10.21153/dlr2013vol18no2art40 |issn=1835-9264}} Strike pay, under the usual meaning above, "is relatively uncommon in both Australia and New Zealand" according to Velden et al.{{Cite book |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2010 |publisher=Aksant |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam Edison, NJ |pages=179}}
By countries
=Spain=
The main unions providing a strike fund in Spain are {{lang|es-ES|Unión Sindical Obrera}} (USO) and the Basque Basque Workers' Solidarity (ELA-STV).{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
According to ELA,{{cite news |last1=Guenaga |first1=Aitor |title=Y 38 años después, la Hacienda vizcaína descubre la 'caja de resistencia' de ELA |url=https://www.eldiario.es/euskadi/euskadi/hacienda-bizkaia-investiga-sindicatos-caja-de-resistencia-ela-diputacion-euskadi_1_2799464.html |access-date=3 February 2022 |work=ElDiario.es |date=10 February 2018 |language=es}} its fund received 13.7 million euros between 2008 and 2011, 15.1% of its expenses, and 19.1 M€ between 2012 and 2016 (16,24%).
It receives amounts to 25% of the dues of its members.{{cite news |last1=Ferreras |first1=Belén |title=La millonaria 'caja de resistencia' de ELA, la baza con la que el mayor sindicato vasco logra mantener huelgas de años |url=https://www.eldiario.es/euskadi/millonaria-caja-resistencia-ela-baza-mayor-sindicato-vasco-logra-mantener-huelgas-anos_1_9036489.html |access-date=31 May 2022 |work=ElDiario.es |date=30 May 2022 |language=es}}
ELA-STV strikers can receive between €1,000 /month (the minimum wage in Spain) and €1,243. Another Basque union {{lang|eu|LAB}} provides a maximum of €30 /day (€900 /month) after the second day of the strike.
Strikes funded by ELA-STV can become long: 235 days at Tubacex, 285 among the cleaners of the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, over 1,000 days at Novaltia.
=United Kingdom=
Whilst some trade unions make payments to members who are on an official strike there is no requirement to do so. The UK Government makes the presumption that workers on official strike action are being paid strike pay, and so they may not be entitled to state benefits.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} Strike pay is not taxable income in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |title=EIM06500 - Employment income: strike pay from trade unions - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim06500 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.gov.uk |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Alarie |first1=Benjamin |last2=Sudak |first2=Matthew |date=2006 |title=The Taxation of Strike Pay |url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=933616 |journal=Canadian Tax Journal |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=426–449 |via=SSRN}}
Limited strike funds were a constraining factor on strike pay before the 1970s{{Cite book |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2010 |publisher=Aksant |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam Edison, NJ |pages=349}}
= Canada =
In Canada, strike pay is not taxable income. This was confirmed in the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada case Fries v. The Queen. According to Velden et al. "in order to qualify for [strike pay], some kind of strike work, such as picketing" is usually necessary.{{Cite book |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2010 |publisher=Aksant |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam Edison, NJ |pages=90}}
= United States =
= Denmark =
In Denmark "most unions provide strike pay at the comparatively high level of up to 80% of real wages" according to Velden et al.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/185032340 |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2007 |publisher=Aksant ; Distributed in North America by Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam : [Edison, NJ] |pages=226 |oclc=185032340}} As part of collective bargaining agreements in Denmark, unions cannot provide strike pay where industrial action relates to matters already addressed in their agreement(s).
= Germany =
According to Velden et al., strike pay is "paid to members involved in official strikes or locked out by employers" in Germany.{{Cite book |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2010 |publisher=Aksant |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam Edison, NJ |pages=270}} In some instances, non-union members can receive strike pay from trade union strike funds.{{Cite web |title=EMIRE: GERMANY - STRIKE PAY |url=http://www.eurofound.eu.int/emire/GERMANY/STRIKEPAY-DE.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050425115747/http://www.eurofound.eu.int:80/emire/GERMANY/STRIKEPAY-DE.html |archive-date=2005-04-25 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.eurofound.eu.int}}
Strike fund
A strike fund is a reserve set up by a union ahead of time (through special assessments or from general funds) and used to provide strike pay or for other strike-related activities.
Strike funds have also been called "fighting funds"{{Cite web |title=EMIRE: DENMARK - FIGHTING FUND |url=http://www.eurofound.eu.int/emire/DENMARK/FIGHTINGFUND-DN.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050223043518/http://www.eurofound.eu.int:80/emire/DENMARK/FIGHTINGFUND-DN.html |archive-date=2005-02-23 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.eurofound.eu.int}} and in Danish "strejkekasse".{{Cite web |title=EMIRE: DENMARK - STRIKE FUND |url=http://www.eurofound.eu.int/emire/DENMARK/STRIKEFUND-DN.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050226223626/http://www.eurofound.eu.int:80/emire/DENMARK/STRIKEFUND-DN.html |archive-date=2005-02-26 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.eurofound.eu.int}} According to Velden et al., in Belgium "unions sometimes reach an agreement with the employer to pay the wages retrospectively so that the union strike fund remains unaffected".{{Cite book |title=Strikes around the world, 1968-2005: case-studies of 15 countries |date=2010 |publisher=Aksant |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1 |editor-last=Velden |editor-first=Jacobus Hermanus Antonius van der |location=Amsterdam Edison, NJ |pages=201}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://legamus.eu/blog/?p=228 Legamus audiorecording of "Strike-Pay" by D. H. Lawrence read by Martin Geeson.]
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