Striking out in a new direction? Strikes and the displacement thesis

Abstract

Strike activity in Britain continues at its historically low ebb. The level of strikes is likely to remain low or even fall further as a result of the introduction of the Tory Trade Union Act 2016 on 1 March 2017. This raises the issue of whether other means of the expression and resolution of workplace grievances are being used instead when strike action is not or cannot be used. An examination of the available data on the frequency of these other means indicates such displacement has not occurred to any great extent, in part because we have also seen successive attempts by government to suppress the level of individual disputes over the last three to four decades.