Employer Treatment of Permanently Replaced Strikers, 1935-1991: Public Policy Implications

Employer hiring of permanent replacements for economic strikers has become one of the most controversial labor law issues since the early 1980s. While such hirings have occurred for over a century in the United States and were recognized as lawful in 1938 by the Supreme Court, the extensive use and threat to use permanent replacements by major U.S. employers during the 1980s and early 1990s have intensified attention and debate surrounding the issue.