Work-to-rule

Work-to-rule is an industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract, and precisely follow safety or other regulations in order to cause a slowdown, rather than to serve their purposes.[1][2] Such an action is considered less disruptive than a strike or lockout; and just obeying the rules is less susceptible to disciplinary action. Notable examples have included nurses refusing to answer telephones and police officers refusing to issue citations. Refusal to work overtime, travel on duty, or sign up to other tasks requiring employee assent are other manifestations of using work-to-rule as industrial action.

It has been described as a decision to "Give the rules a meaning which no reasonable man could give them and work to that."[3]

Sometimes the term "rule-book slowdown" is used in a slightly different sense than "work-to-rule": the former involves applying to-the-letter rules that are normally set aside or interpreted less literally to increase efficiency; the latter, refraining from activities which are customary but not required by rule or job description but the terms may be used synonymously.

Work-to-rules can be misconstrued as malicious even when it is only a removal of good-will, such as employees insisting on taking all legally entitled breaks, or refusing a request to work unpaid overtime.[4]

Sometimes work-to-rule can be considered by employers as malicious compliance as they pursue legal action against workers.

"Work-to-rule" is also known as "Italian strike".[5] In Italy and other countries (e.g. Slovenia or Croatia) it is known as a "white strike" (Italian: sciopero bianco, Slovene: bela stavka, Croatian: bijeli štrajk).

References

  1. ↑ Gareth Morgan (1998). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, California USA: Sage Publications. p. 165. ISBN 0-7619-1752-7. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "Air Canada Hit By Work-to-Rule", The Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 9 December 1968, pp. 1 – 2, retrieved 20 June 2012
  3. ↑ Secretary of State v. ASLEF (No. 2) [1972] 2 All E.R. 949 at 959 (N.I.R.C.) per Sir John Donaldson. Cited in William Twining and David Miers (2010). How to Do Things with Rules. Cambridge University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-521-19549-2. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Dennis (October 13, 2014). "NHS unions tell Hunt: talk to us or face further strikes". The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ Leopold Haimson and Giulio Sapelli, eds. (1992). Strike Social Conflict and the First World War. Milan, Italy: Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Milano. p. 543. ISBN 88-07-99047-4. Retrieved 20 June 2012.

External links

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