✊ Sick leave protest 🤒 Many out sick

sickout

2 7.4

Many workers stay home as an organized protest to pressure their boss

noun
/ˈsɪkˌaʊt/

Literature

: paro por enfermedad

The company's refusal to negotiate led to a widespread sickout among the workers.
staged a sickout
Teachers staged a sickout

Examples

The teachers organized a sickout to demand better working conditions.
A March sickout by Air Canada pilots left many travelers stranded.

Blog text (17)
During the sickout, many employees expressed their grievances about low wages.

Synonyms

protest

vssickout

578 2.5

A public gathering of people who show strong disagreement, like a march

is a targeted workplace tactic where employees call in sick to pressure employers

walkout

vssickout

33 4.8

A group of people who leave work together to protest

uses absence presented as sickness instead of public leaving

work stoppage

vssickout

9 4.2

A time when workers stop working to protest about pay or conditions

is a narrower tactic where absence is claimed as illness rather than overt refusal

job action

vssickout

Specialized

1 5.7

Temporary work protest by workers to demand better pay or conditions

refers to the tactic of calling in sick as a specific protest method

sick-out

vssickout

Literature

8.2

A group of workers who call in sick to protest and ask for change

is identical in meaning but written without a hyphen

How Organized

to strike

133 3.2

sickout

Literature

2 7.4

sick leave

14 2.4

absenteeism

5 6.7

Surface Forms

sickout singular

sickouts plural

Morphology

sickout = sick (semi-transparent) = out + sick

Components indicate absence due to sickness, but the organized-protest sense (calling in sick as collective action) requires pragmatic and cultural knowledge beyond the literal parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'out' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Sickout joins sick ('ill') and out ('away from work') and is also like protest words such as walkout. A helpful way to remember it is to think of many workers 'calling in sick' together to make a point, which is why a sickout can mean an organized protest.