industrial action

American

noun

Chiefly British.

job action.

industrial action British

noun

any action, such as a strike or go-slow, taken by employees in industry to protest against working conditions, redundancies, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Karen said the industrial action would be "affecting the sick and the vulnerable - people they are supposed to be helping".

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

The government offered a package of measures last month in a bid to end the dispute, including 1,000 additional training places, but the package was withdrawn after the union announced industrial action.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

The market is vulnerable to outages anywhere, from hurricanes, industrial action or cyberattacks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

The union is consulting its members over potential industrial action over pay, to gauge the appetite before committing to a formal ballot.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

The American "Syndicalists" are the I. W. W.'s, and their methods are those of "industrial action" by means of industrial unionism.

From The Red Conspiracy by Mereto, Joseph J.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023