strikebreaker

/ˌstraɪkˈbreɪkər/

Other forms: strikebreakers

When workers go on strike, anyone who passes their picket lines to go to work is known as a strikebreaker. Most strikebreakers are hired after the strike begins.

Strikes usually start when employees believe their official complaints haven't been adequately addressed by their employer. When a whole group of workers refuses to work, they hold a kind of collective power. Strikebreakers are those people who agree to do the work despite the strike — and for that reason, they're not popular with striking workers, who also refer to them as "scabs." In many countries (though not the U.S.), it's illegal to hire strikebreakers during the bargaining process.

Definitions of strikebreaker

1. noun

   someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
   synonyms: blackleg, rat, scab

   type of:

   worker

   a person who works at a specific occupation