what does scab mean union

The term scab is a derogatory term used to refer to people who continue to work when trade unionists go on strike action. Now they are futile. SCAB is listed in the World's largest and most authoritative dictionary database of abbreviations and acronyms. Some striking teachers and nurses have threatened and intimidated colleagues who cross the picket line. Once you scab, you always will be a SCAB!!!! Unfortunately for unions, the popularity of permanent replacement workers has been on the rise for years. A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike.Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired after or during the strike to keep the organization running. This argument is hard to swallow for many union workers, but there's a certain logic to it, particularly in the case of smaller businesses [source: Lemay]. By crossing the picket line, scabs and consumers indicate that they are not concerned about the rights of the workers, and they weaken the case of the strikers. During the British miners' strike of the early 1980s, violent clashes between miners and police escalated when buses of scabs were brought in to replace them. "1981 Strike Leaves Legacy for American Workers." Labor unions attempted to help with this by organizing workers, who paid dues that could be used to support them during a strike. Youre just too cowardly to make the right one. More temperate labor activists and unions use the term strike breaker instead, but the slang term is often used in speeches and literature designed to fire up the strikers. Retaliation against suck workers could sometimes be brutal. We were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and waiting to give you our daily union greeting. In the UAWs Caterpillar campaign of two decades ago, dissenting workers and family members suffered a good deal more than the proverbial hurt feelings. In England, scabs are also called "blacklegs." The more union workers you hire, the greater your risk if they go on strike. Meaning of the word scab union. Does a yellow scab mean healing? The term "scab" is a highly derogatory and "fighting word" most frequently used to refer to people who continue to work when trade unionists go on strike action. National Football League (NFL) players went on strike in 1987 when owners refused to loosen free agency rules in their contracts. Some employers view the right to hire scab labor as a way to maintain that balance. It is a test to which workingmen should not be subjected. A union anti-scab campaign does more than simply express disapproval; it enables full-scale character assassination. A scab is a strikebreaker, an individual hired by a company to do work performed by unionized workers that are on strike, or a union member who rebels from his union and goes to work while there is a strike, crossing his own picket line. In one case, a union caller asked a scabs daughter, How would you like to have your home burned down? Another caller delivered this message: Your daughter has a cute ass. No man has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. His smile shows fangs that drip with your blood, for he willingly destroys families, lives, careers, opportunities and professions at the drop of a hat. Strikebreakers were detained by union officials who beat them, robbed them and forced them to join the union [source: The New York Times]. If I see them on the street, I will counsel them on the street. So long as they know that making (or carrying out) threats of physical assault and property damage have a good chance of not being punished, they have an incentive to generate these lists. scab noun Several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by Streptomyces -bacteria. Life is full of choices. Those who do travel nursing might do this quite often, although I imagine that many travel nurses would turn down a strike assignment. This article just explains what a scab does. The Love of Sports. See more. The maritime strike broke under the weight of the scab labor, and the shearers' strike escalated to armed confrontations and dragged on for years before finally failing as well. The term "scab" is a highly derogatory and "fighting word" most frequently used to refer to people who continue to work when trade unionists go on strike action. (both meaning "scab, itch"), the word "scab" had become an insult by the late . A union anti-scab campaign does more than simply express disapproval; it enables full-scale character assassination. "Aust Radical History: The Great Strikes." Unions, ever on the lookout to expand membership, may become more brazen in their use of scab lists as an organizing and bargaining tool. 3 : a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike : strikebreaker. Wounds that take a long time to heal need special care. . Scabs is a derogatory name for union members who refuse to go out on strike or workers who are hired by businesses to replace striking workers. "Wales History: The Miners' Strike"http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/industry_coal06.shtml, Mail Online. By the late 1700s, laborers adopted the insult to refer to workmen who wouldn't join a strike, a union, or take part in organized labor. The following article hopes to help you make more suitable choices and get more useful information They would end up buying another brand. Last week, readers@amyh914 and @johnjaramillo13 were wondering about the origins of scab as an insult for people who cross picket lines. The formation of a scab is part of the healing process as skin grows over the wound. These people might be existing employees or outside contractors. Keep reading to better understand the relationship between unions and scabs, to hear about some of the most famous scab conflicts and to find out if there's actually a positive side to scab labor. Krueger, Alan B.; Mas, Alexandre. In some cases, people may feel forced to cross a picket line; university students, for example, may be told that they must attend class whether or not university staff are striking. For more than 800 years, its been applied to people who are untrustworthy or despicable. Scabs is a derogatory term for union members who refuse to go on strike or employees who are hired by businesses to fill in for . Unions have long sought to demonize replacement workers, union members who cross picket lines, and others whom the unions label scabs. Sometimes, this takes the form of implied or explicit threats or other efforts to create fear and to intimidate. Three separate persons approached him, two of them visibly hostile. "Scab"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scab, Farlex. Nearly every major labor strike of the19th and early 20th century includes tales of injury, torture and even the death of scabs at the hands of striking workers. I was disgusted by it. Local 1853 President Tim Stannard admitted to publishing the list. The New York Times. 13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1, Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish skabbr scab; akin to Old English sceabb scab, Latin scabere to scratch more at shave. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 25 recently revealed the identities of workers who had opted out of continued union membership in the wake of Michigans enactment late in 2012 of Right to Work legislation. UAW Local 31, which represents nearly 3,000 wage and salary workers at the Fairfax GM assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., has published the names of non-joining workers on its website under the category, Important Information. One nonunion worker at the plant, insisting upon anonymity, said the motive is coercion: They cant have dissenters among their ranks because it doesnt look good to anyone thinking about joining.. And when your 9 or 10 year old goes to work in a factory for 12 hours a day, don't complain, You might just be living in Korea or Cambodia. According to an independent study, a significant number of tires produced by replacement workers at the Firestone plan in Decatur, Ill. in 1994 and 1995 were defective and had potentially deadly tread separations. The most high-profile case is the Bridgestone-Firestone tire recall of the late 1990s. What does calling someone a scab mean? The term "scab" refers to workers brought in to work during a union labor strike. With production at a standstill, it's losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, and the only way to get employees back to work is by meeting their demands. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Unfortunately, if nurses at a hospital go on strike, the chances are patients would die (those who are critically ill) if no one was left to care for them. As a slang insult for a mean, low, scurvy fellow; a rascal, scoundrel, it drew a connection between that person and scabs -- and the diseases and sores that lead to them (syphilis, for example) -- and, by extension, bad habits and unclean lifestyles. The lesson: Scabs make strikes ineffective. However, "scab" was an old-fashioned English insult. What is scab made of? On June 15, 1993, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 239-190 to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to prohibit employers from hiring permanent replacement workers in . Delivered to your inbox! To fire one requires a legitimate criminal offense. The imposition of violence, and fear of it, becomes a way of doing business. In fact, they are not, because all bargaining units in essential services have agreed upon terms for maintaining emergency services in the event of a labor dispute. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scab.' This type of rat is rarely seen up close. Such campaigns may produce assaults, vandalism, and among the targets, medical problems and suicide attempts. I was working in Silicon Valley, CA for a very lucrative non-union company that pays their Techs/Installers $16 per hour. For example, if an employer wants to avoid paying higher wages for union labor, he can send his factory to another country where pay is lower and safety standards may not be the same as those in his country. MedicalDefinition of scab(Entry 2 of 2), Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for scab, Nglish: Translation of scab for Spanish Speakers, Britannica English: Translation of scab for Arabic Speakers, Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about scab. People also ask, What is a secondary picket? In the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Quebec, however, it's illegal under any circumstances to hire scabs [source: Canadian Labour Congress]. The heading read: The following individuals are NON-dues-paying workers. "Herrin." Academic & Science Societies. have the opportunity . December 5, 2006.http://action.clc-ctc.ca/node/37, Armstrong, Mick. Thats the point. When a strike is in progress, people who support it should refrain from crossing the picket line. Picket's definition ( Entry 1 of 2) 1: a stake, post, or pale with a pointy or sharpened end. For employers who want to break the unions, one of their greatest weapons is the scab. View complete answer on variety.com Scab is an example of a term used in the field of economics (Economics - ). Unions represented 34-40 percent of the labor vocabulary United Auto workers fondness for scab to For months with a corkscrew soul, a forgiving approach to dissent an. 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