• Laws that address striking protect workers and the national economy.test preperation image by Bradlee Mauer from Fotolia.com
  
  The strike is the most powerful weapon that organized labor has in its battle with employers. But strikes can disrupt more than a single business. Whole industries and even the national economy can feel the sting of a strike. Since the 1930s Congress has had to balance these competing interests to produce legislation that protects workers while ensuring a stable national economy.
  
  

National Labor Relations Act

• Unions must give notice before they strike at a health care facility.hospital surgery operating room image by alma_sacra from Fotolia.com
  
  The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed in 1935 giving many protections to unionized employees, including the right to strike. But it also gave a significant protection to employers. Unions are required to give a 10-day notice to employers of their intent to strike at a health care facility. Health care workers who do not follow this rule can be punished or fired. The notice requirement is 30 days when the employer and the union are engaged in bargaining involving the authorization of the union as the representative of the workers.
  
  While the right to strike is protected by this law, Congress recognized that strikes can have a devastating effect on the economy. One key provision of the NLRA permits the president to appoint a board to investigate strikes that could damage industries that are crucial to the economic well-being of the nation. While injunctions are rarely granted against strikes, the president can petition the court for an injunction against a strike that risks severe damage to the national economy.
  
  

The Taft-Hartley Act

• The government can stop strikes that threaten the national economy.stop image by hugy from Fotolia.com
  
  The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 amended the NLRA to protect against what Congress perceived as unfair practices by unions and employers. The law permits the government to receive an 80-day injunction against strikes that threaten the national economy. It banned jurisdictional strikes (strikes that are a battle between two unions fighting for the authority to represent the workers) and it prohibited strikes that were not authorized by a union.
  
  

Byrnes Anti-Strikebreaking Act

• It is illegal to send violent strikebreakers across state lines.man's hand and a gun image by Elena Vdovina from Fotolia.com
  
  The early 20th century is replete with stories of employers strikebreaking by hiring replacement workers, derogatorily dubbed "scabs". In some cases these strikebreakers employed violence against union workers. Congress passed the Byrnes Anti-Strikebreaking Act of 1936 making it illegal to transport people across state lines to use violence to disrupt strikes or negotiations between labor unions and the employer.
  
  

Public Employees Striking

• Federal employees are not permitted to strike.old tin flag image by charles taylor from Fotolia.com
  
  Federal law (5 U.S.C. Section 7311) not only prohibits employees of the United States from striking, it bars them from even publicly claiming that they have the right to strike or belonging to a union that claims the right to strike. While the written law is clear, actually firing or arresting public employees is something that few politicians have had the audacity to follow through on.
  
  One exception is President Ronald Reagan, who in 1981 threatened the federal air traffic controllers that if they did not end their illegal strike he would fire them. He gave them 48 hours to return to work. When they did not return, he fired 12,000 workers. Advocates on both sides of the issue agree that the firing of the air traffic controllers has significantly altered employee-labor relations.