industrial action

There are different types of industrial action that may be used by workers who are in dispute with their employer and several practical considerations that employers need to bear in mind when formulating their response to it. In calling employees out on strike, a trade union and its officials are not only asking their members to break their obligations under their employment contract but also interfering with the employer's ability to fulfil its obligations under its commercial contracts with its customers and suppliers.

The law does, however, give unions some leeway to organise industrial action without being sued, provided that the action meets certain conditions, the most important being the need for the action to be supported by a properly conducted ballot.