![]() By any definition, a scab is not someone you really want to associate with. Unhappy with this state of affairs, the workers started their own organization, taking the task of union organization upon themselves in order to effect greater change than. The great unionizing drives of the 1930’s then transformed this sense of “scab” from industrial slang into a household word. Workers returned to the plant after the strike with no formally recognized union representatives or contract instead, the poor conditions and low wages continued as before. He first sells the journeymen, and is himself afterwards sold in his turn by the masters, till at last he is despised by both and deserted by all.” By the 19th century, “scab” was being used, primarily in the U.S., to mean a worker willing to cross picket lines to replace a striking worker. The strike pitted the company’s management (which included owner American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and American industrialist Henry. It may also be an extension of the strike to express generalised protest by the workers. It may be a strike of the workers in a particular region of industry to force demands common to all the workers. ![]() As one contemporary source explained in 1792, “What is a scab? He is to his trade what a traitor is to his country…. Homestead Strike, also called Homestead riot, violent labour dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers that occurred on July 6, 1892, in Homestead, Pennsylvania. General Strike It means a strike by members of all or most of the unions in a region or an industry. Since “scab” already was being used to mean “lowlife creep,” it’s not surprising that by the late 1700s it was being applied to any worker who refused to join an organized trade union movement. ![]() It most likely stems from the implication that such a scoundrel might well be afflicted with syphilis, which in its advanced stages causes a “scabby” skin condition. … by about 1590 we were using “scab” to mean “a low or despicable person.” The logic of this derogatory sense is not entirely clear. An older word is “blackleg” and this is found in the old folk song, Blackleg Miner, which has been sung by many groups.įrom Word, we get yet another explanation: In Lawrence, Massachusetts, textile mill workers responded by shutting down their looms and walking out in what became known as the Bread and Roses Strike. However, “scab” was an old-fashioned English insult. Some say that the word comes from the idea that the “scabs” are covering a wound. Trade unionists also use the epithet “scab” to refer to workers who are willing to accept terms that union workers have rejected and interfere with the strike action. The terms strike-breaker, blackleg, and scab labor are also used. (of a protest) in which demonstrators occupy their workplace or sit down on the ground in a public place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. ![]() People hired to replace striking workers are often derogatively termed scabs by those in favor of the strike. ![]()
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