Hello everyone! (A hand emerges from the piles of translations under which museamuse is buried and waves)

Was wondering if you could help... I'm looking for a phrase which describes the type of strike where the employess go to work but wear a band in protest. I think similar strikes were held in Japan. The only phrase I can find is 'general strike' which is not what I need here. Anyone know where I can look? I tried bartleby but no luck.

Ta

That sounded like a "sympathy strike" to me but when I looked it up to confirm it, I found I was off a bit. People on a "sympathy strike" also leave their work in sympathy (support) of another group which has already gone on strike.

I entered " strike" into OneLook and came up with "stay-in strike" which also sounds close to, but not exactly, what you're looking for. A "stay-in" strike is where workers do go to work but perform their tasks slowly or not at all. There was no mention of arm bands.

Also coming up was something called a "pizzle strike." Seeing as how a "pizzle" is a bull's penis and also seeing as how I have as much intellectual curiosity as the next person, I clicked on this reference to see what the heck a "pizzle strike" might be only to be transferred to a medical dictionary at which point my computer completely froze up. I suppose there are some things which are meant to remain a mystery...


Sorry not to be able to save the day for you but it's good to hear you're still alive and well. On the other hand, you're working too hard. Tell your boss I say it's OK for you to take next week off!

Welcome back museamuse!

I googled "types of strikes" "labor relations" protest

in vain

Perhaps the best phrase is "sympathy protest," but this might be one of those cases where a longer explanation is far better than a one-word translation.

Not finding much. I did find the concept explained explained, stating, "There are no true work stoppages due to strikes in Japan," Whitely says. "Union members strike for one day, then wear a black armband until the grievances have been resolved. It's a very different mentality." And on a bulletin board, where someone said, "I hear of very little labor strife in Japan," the response was It exists, but it's done much differently. When I was there, a "strike" consisted of everybody wearing a black gauze armband over their company uniforms while at work, to indicate that they were unhappy with working conditions.

But neither of these gives special term for such a strike; they just describe it. (Same at the admittedly-not-so-great sources listed below.*) That suggests to me that there is no specific term.

A side note is that historians studying Australia speak of the "black armband view of history," as opposed to the "Three Cheers" view.

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*You'll see the same here (last paragraph), here, here (2nd paragraph from end) and here (under heading "Back To Old Tactics").

We used to have a thing here called "work to rule" - which meant really a policy of non-cooperation.

For eaxmple, it is one of the jobs of a train guard (conductor) to be sure that all the doors are closed before the train leaves. Normally he just looks up and down the train and can see that all the handles are in the locked position. However, he could "work to rule" and decide that he needs to walkd along the train to check. Thus the train will be delayed and the delays thus caused will rapidly build up until there is chaos.

Of course, the workers still get paid so they are inconveniencing their employers without losing out themselves.

Muse, since this sort of strike seems to be common in Japan, might it be wise phone the embassy and ask a native Japanese whether they have a special word for it? My bet is that if anyone has such a word, they do, and any English word for it (if there is one) could by googling up the Japanese word.

PS: Richard, what you describe we call a "slowdown" or a labor slowdown, though I'm not finding that term in any dictionary.

Hi muse! Good to see you back!

I too googled for awhile, using "strike" and "Japanese," etc., to no avail. So sorry!

Thanks for your help everyone! I've just finished editing this monster of a book and am now heaving a great sigh of relief. In Greek the phrase used literaly translates as 'white strike' which is what the Japanese do, ie work while wearing protest bands. From the context I found the phrase in, it turns out that the author didn't mean quite that, but what I found to be called a 'sit-down strike' which is like the slowdown process that shufitz and Richard describe. Thanks for helping out and sorry it took me so long to get back to you! See you soon (after the end of the academic year!)