to go on strike
35
3.2
- phrasal verb
- We're going on strike, baby.
- gone on strike demanding better pay
- bus drivers went on strike
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Watch on YouTubeRailroad workers reacted to the cuts by going on strike and rioting in Pittsburgh.
- Railroad workers reacted to the cuts by going on strike and rioting in Pittsburgh.
- And while I was there, the university went on strike.
- On a call from the SPD, the whole country goes on strike.
- Six months they changed the union and then they announced that they're gonna go on strike.
- Keep in mind, if they do go on strike, pay usually stops when the strikes begin.
- She started closing the pit and the miners she knew and those controlling a new would go on strike.
Examples
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But earlier this year, they went on strike for higher pay.
Academic text (2010) -
Recently, 10,000 healthcare workers in Alberta, Canada, went on strike for two days over disputes about wages and other working conditions.
Academic text (2002) -
And, you know, about two years later we went on strike.
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The rest of the team went on strike, lost, and went home.
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But they went on strike.
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On the same day that the British government announced this additional spending, teachers, doctors and transport workers went on strike over pay and working conditions.
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It's the first time Chicago teachers have gone on strike since 1987.
Blog text (15) -
The other elevator operators went on strike, and the French public supported them.
Blog text (15) -
That same year in Honduras, thousands of United Fruit workers went on strike until the company agreed to recognize a New Labour union.
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Thousands of nurses are going on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.
Synonyms
64
3.2
To stop work as a protest to get better pay
4
4.1
Stop work and leave a place as a protest by workers
1
5.7
To stop doing a job to protest for better pay or conditions
1
8.1
Workers stop work to protest about pay or conditions
Antonyms
How Disruptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'strike' already denotes stopping work as a form of protest, and 'go on' signals entering or starting that state, so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts. This is a common compositional pattern (enter into + action) and is likely transparent to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Go on strike may come from old ship and camp life, where to strike meant to take down a sail or 'strike one's tent' — to stop work and pack up. So the image of taking things down and stopping is why go on strike means 'to stop working together to protest'.