At the moment legally balloted strike action gives those involved protection against dismissal and prevents employers from introducing agency or scab labour to do the work. Recently at P&O Tory Ministers condemned the breaking of this law. On 21st July Business Secretary Kwasi Karteng made it legal (possibly..)
In the nineteenth century scabs were known as knobsticks. One notable dispute where they were used was the Preston lock-out of 1853/4 which features in Dickens Hard Times. Full details can be found in Dutton and King’s book on the dispute 10% and No Surrender. Suffice to say however that the strikers often turned knobsticks away when they realised they’d be strike breaking and those used were found to be ‘inexperienced and incompetent’.
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