Strike and Labor Dispute Security

McCray provides strike security for employers and property owners facing a work stoppage, a lockout or picketing at their premises. The assignment is deliberately narrow. Officers keep employees, visitors, vendors and deliveries moving safely in and out of the site, protect buildings and equipment, and document what happens in a form that management, counsel and police can rely on. They take no part in the dispute itself and do not interfere with peaceful picketing or any other activity the law protects. For coverage arranged on short notice, see emergency security services.

Security during a strike is typically requested in these situations:

• Contract expiration and bargaining deadlines
• Announced strikes and work stoppages
• Lockouts
• Picketing at stores and offices
• Plant gates and distribution centers
• Health care facilities after a strike notice
• Multi-tenant buildings with one tenant in a dispute

Planning Before a Work Stoppage

Planning is most effective before a work stoppage begins. Once a contract expiration date or strike notice is known, the site survey identifies every entrance, gate, loading dock and parking area, the routes employees and trucks will use, where public sidewalks meet private property, and where camera coverage is needed at access points. The survey feeds directly into the Post Orders for the dispute.

Notice rules can set the planning window. As the National Labor Relations Board explains, Section 8(g) of the National Labor Relations Act requires a labor organization to give a health care institution and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service at least 10 days’ written notice before striking or picketing there, and Section 8(d) sets separate notice steps for a party seeking to end or change a collective bargaining agreement. Employers outside health care may have less advance warning of a walkout, so preparing a security plan while bargaining is still under way is the prudent course.

Post Orders written for a labor dispute state who may authorize entry, which entrances stay open and when, how officers respond to a blocked driveway or a threat, when to call police, and who at the client receives reports. They also state plainly what officers must not do.

What Strike Security Covers

Video and Evidence Handling

Video and photographs are often the most reliable record of what happened at a gate, and they carry legal risk if used carelessly. The NLRB lists photographing or videotaping employees engaged in peaceful union or other protected activities, and creating the impression of spying on union activities, among employer conduct that interferes with employee rights. See NLRB, Interfering With Employee Rights. For that reason, fixed cameras in a strike security plan cover entrances, docks and property, and recording by officers is limited to incidents such as violence, threats, property damage or blocked access, as directed by the client and its counsel.

Recordings and reports are preserved in original form with time stamps, held under the client’s control and shared only with those who need them, such as counsel or police investigating an incident. Consistent handling makes the record more useful if a matter later reaches the Board or a court.

The Law That Applies

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act gives employees the right to self-organization, to bargain collectively and “to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Section 13 provides that nothing in the Act, except as specifically provided, shall be construed “to interfere with or impede or diminish in any way the right to strike.” The NLRB states that all employees, union or not, have the right to participate in a protected strike, picket or protest, and that violence or other serious misconduct, such as destruction of property, is not protected. See NLRB, Strikes, Pickets and Protest.

The NLRB’s guidance on strikes gives examples of serious misconduct that can cost strikers their reinstatement rights, including physically blocking people from entering or leaving a struck plant and threatening violence against nonstriking employees. Whether particular conduct is protected is a question for the employer’s counsel and, ultimately, the Board, not for officers at the gate.

Federal criminal law at 18 U.S.C. 1231 makes it a crime to willfully transport in interstate or foreign commerce a person employed or to be employed “for the purpose of obstructing or interfering by force or threats with” peaceful picketing by employees during a labor controversy, or with employees’ rights of self-organization or collective bargaining. A person who is knowingly transported or travels in interstate or foreign commerce for those purposes is also covered.

In New York, General Business Law section 84 applies to holders of licenses issued under Article 7 of that law, which covers private investigators, bail enforcement agents and watch, guard and patrol agencies, and to their employees, for acts “within or without the state of New York.” It makes it unlawful for them knowingly “to interfere or prevent lawful and peaceful picketing during strikes,” to advertise for, recruit, furnish or replace, or offer to furnish or replace, for hire or reward “any help or labor, skilled or unskilled,” or to furnish armed guards (other than “armed guards theretofore regularly employed for the protection of payrolls, property or premises”) “for service upon property which is being operated in anticipation of or during the course or existence of a strike,” or to “furnish armed guards upon the highways, for persons involved in labor disputes.” A violation is a misdemeanor.

McCray supplies security officers only and does not recruit or furnish replacement workers. Requirements differ by state, so each strike assignment is reviewed against the law where the site is located. See security guard license requirements by state. This page summarizes federal law and New York law for general information only. It is not legal advice, and employers should consult labor counsel before and during any labor dispute.

Screening, Training and Supervision

Officers complete a five-stage screening process and tier-based training before assignment, including de-escalation and, for retail posts, organized retail crime recognition. Supervisors make unannounced site visits, and the McCray Operations Desk answers 24/7/365. Incidents are documented on scene, time-stamped and GPS-verified.

See officer classifications for how officer tiers are matched to posts, and security risk assessments for a site review before bargaining begins.

Common Questions

What does a security officer do during a strike?

The officer controls access at designated entrances, protects property, documents incidents and calls police when violence, threats, property damage or blocked access occur. The officer does not take sides in the dispute or interfere with lawful picketing.

Can security guards remove picketers?

Officers on a strike assignment do not remove or confront picketers. If picketing blocks an entrance or involves threats or violence, officers document what they observe and summon law enforcement, which decides how to respond.

Can an employer video record picketers?

The NLRB treats photographing or videotaping employees engaged in peaceful protected activity as interference with employee rights. Strike security plans therefore aim cameras at entrances and property and limit officer recording to incidents. Employers should confirm their approach with labor counsel.

Are armed guards used during a strike?

Armed coverage during a labor dispute is restricted in some jurisdictions, including New York under General Business Law section 84, described above. Elsewhere, the decision depends on state law, site risk and the client’s insurance requirements.

When should strike security planning begin?

Planning works best once a contract expiration date or strike notice is known, so that the site survey, Post Orders and police contacts are in place before any work stoppage begins.

Does McCray provide replacement workers?

No. McCray provides security officers only. Staffing of the client’s operations during a dispute is a matter for the employer and its counsel.