Definition

Noun: A person who works, or who provides workers to work, at a job during a strike, thereby undermining the striking workers' efforts to halt production or services.

Usage

The term "strikebreaker" is used to describe an individual who crosses a picket line to perform the work of striking employees. It carries a strongly negative connotation from the perspective of the strikers and their supporters, implying a betrayal of collective action. It is a formal term often found in news reports, historical accounts, and discussions of labor relations.

Examples

• The company hired strikebreakers to keep the factory operating.
• Union members viewed the strikebreakers as traitors to their cause.
• The use of strikebreakers often escalates tensions during a labor dispute.

Advanced Usage

• "To act as a strikebreaker": To perform the role of someone who works during a strike.
  • He was criticized for agreeing to act as a strikebreaker.
• The concept is central to labor history, with strikebreakers sometimes being referred to by the derogatory term "scabs."

Variants and Related Words

• Strikebreaking (noun): The action or practice of working as or employing strikebreakers.
  • The firm was accused of strikebreaking.
• Scab (noun, informal and derogatory): A common, strongly pejorative synonym for a strikebreaker.

Synonyms

• Scab (derogatory)
• Blackleg (chiefly British, derogatory)
• Replacement worker (more neutral, formal term)

Related Idioms/Phrases

• To cross the picket line: This is the action a strikebreaker takes. It means to go into work despite an ongoing strike and the presence of striking workers (the picket line) protesting outside.
  • Any worker who chose to cross the picket line was labeled a strikebreaker.

Noun

1. someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike