lockout

lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout is sometimes confused with the term strike, since what employers will frequently designate as a strike will in turn be referred to by workers as a lockout. Lockouts have generally been regarded as legal by the courts, although in some cases they have been held unlawful if they violate the terms of a joint agreement.

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lockout

Tactic used by employers in labour disputes, in which employees are locked out of the workplace or otherwise denied employment. In the 1880s and '90s, factory owners in the U.S. often used lockouts against the Knights of Labor, which was struggling to organize industries such as meatpacking and cigar making. The lockout has been used less frequently in modern times, usually as part of a pact among members of employers' associations to frustrate labour unions by closing work facilities in response to strikes.