Throughout the years, there have been major strikes in many countries but mainly in industrialised countries. The stoppage of normal operations to protest against an action or condition has taken place in different situations and for various reasons. A strike is most of the time a measure of last resort by those protesting mainly to express a grievance or to enforce a demand. Views diverge on whether strikes generate development in certain sectors and whether or not they are necessary.

             Numerous reasons have been brought forward to explain why strikes are necessary and how they work effectively. Obviously, strikes occur occasionally in any society that encourages free collective bargaining. Strikes most often occur in the business sector or in industries. They are conducted most frequently by workers organised into trade unions and most of these strikes are walkouts where the workers leave their jobs. Most strikes take place for relatively the same reasons. Workers may engage in a strike to persuade companies to agree to their demands such as to obtain some improvement in the conditions of work such as shorter working hours. In fact, surveys have shown that the main reasons for strikes involve disputes over wages, working hours or other conditions of employment. Also, many strikes take place for political reasons where people protest primarily against injustice among different groups of people in society.

             For strikes to take place so often, they must apparently be beneficial for those protesting. At times, if not very often, workers do gain. There are many instances where employers have indeed agreed to higher wages along with improved working conditions as well as other benefits. Moreover, strikes have sometimes succeeded in preventing employers from carrying out actions viewed by workers as detrimental to their interests such as the employment of non-union labour or the discharge of a worker without adequate justification.