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Glite Dictionary
to strike for better wages

to strike for better wages

1 3.8
To stop work together to ask the employer for higher pay
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : hacer huelga por mejores salarios
  • Why isn't it illegal to strike for better wages?

Examples

  • During the rally, the employees announced their plan to strike for better wages and improved working conditions.

  • The factory workers decided to strike for better wages after months of negotiations with management.

  • Teachers across the district plan to strike for better wages if their demands are not met by the school board.

Synonyms

to strike
vsto strike for better wages
133 3.2

To stop work as a protest to get better pay

is used only to demand higher pay rather than other demands
to go on strike
vsto strike for better wages
28 3.2

Stop working as a group to protest for better pay or conditions

focuses only on winning higher pay rather than a range of demands
to walk out
vsto strike for better wages
11 4.1

Stop work and leave a place as a protest by workers

focuses on stopping work together to demand higher pay, not on leaving
to down tools
vsto strike for better wages
  • Literature
1 8.1

Workers stop work to protest about pay or conditions

is specifically about stopping together to demand higher pay rather than general action
to strike work
vsto strike for better wages
5.7

To stop doing a job to protest for better pay or conditions

aims specifically to secure higher pay rather than general improvements

How Disruptive

to walk out
11 4.1
to strike for better wages
1 3.8
to picket
13 4.8
to protest
283 3.2
to complain
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

strike for better wages infinitive
striking for better wages present participle
strikes for better wages third person singular
struck for better wages past
struck for better wages past participle

Morphology

strike + for + better + wage

The phrase is fully compositional: 'strike' (to stop work in protest) + 'for' (indicating purpose) + 'better wages' (higher pay) yields the meaning 'stop working to demand higher pay.' This common purpose construction is cross-linguistically regular and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Strike for better wages comes from the clear image of workers stopping work together and gathering to ask for better wages. The word strike here means 'to stop work', so the phrase means 'to stop working to demand higher pay'.