Walkout

In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace as an act of protest.

A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an organization, especially if meant as an expression of protest or disapproval.

A walkout can be seen as different from a strike in that a walkout can occur spontaneously, and need not necessarily involve all the workers present, whereas a strike is often voted on beforehand by the workers, giving notification both to all of the workers and to the company affected.

Walkouts have often been staged against the presence of a speaker or the content of an in-progress speech at a meeting. The protest, which is often a silent, non-violent means of expressing disapproval, is often interpreted as an exercise of the freedom of association while allowing the speaker to exercise the freedom of speech, albeit with a reduced audience in attendance.

These were a series of 1968 protests against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools, beginning on March 6.

In the beginning of the 19th century there was a change in economic circumstances with the booming Industrial Revolution and young single women, between ages of fourteen to early twenties felt the need to work to relieve financial pressures from their family and to gain a sense of independence of living on their own. They left home and began a new life in the mill boarding houses. While working in the mills they would send some monthly earnings back home to still fulfill the role as a contributing part of the family. However, the majority of their earnings was saved in the bank for their own desires. Most women who made this change came from a modest farming backgrounds and made the move to areas of New England and Mid Atlantic States.

In the early months of 1834 textile sales were slow and profits were not up to standard to provide sufficient wages for the women mill workers of Lowell, Massachusetts. Therefore, wages were cut and the price of room and board went up. The mill factory women saw this wage cut and price increase as an offense to their dignity, social quality, and economic autonomy, since their earnings were their only symbol of their independence. The women decided to take action and many started petitions and held meetings during dinner breaks. They pledged that they would quit if the wage rates decreased. On a Friday in February 1834 a sporadic walkout began after meeting in which an agent of a mill company dismissed a woman factory worker. Protesting began; women quit work and started parading through the city streets attempting to persuade other mill women to join. This walkout however was short lived and by the middle of the next week the women either returned to work or left town. Only about one sixth of all women workers in Lowell walked out.

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