the word scab in regards a strike, where did it come from,?

Answer 1

Social Climbing Admin(istrative) B**tard.
a Strike breaker often directly bought in by management recruited from outside the area usually, and employed specifically to break the strike. By the way acronym given above is pure speculation the simple English word scab was probably scurrilous enough on it's own.
It has been around for at least 2 centuries.

Answer 2

The term "scab" is a highly derogatory and "fighting word" most frequently used to refer to people who continue to work when trade unionists go on strike action. This often results in their being shunned or assaulted. The classic example from United Kingdom industrial history is that of the miners from Nottinghamshire, who during the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) failed to support strike action by fellow mineworkers in other parts of the country. Those who supported the strike claimed that this was because they enjoyed more favourable mining conditions and thus better wages. However, the Nottinghamshire miners argued that they did not participate because the law required a ballot for a national strike and their area vote had seen around 75% vote against a strike.

People hired to replace striking workers are often derogatively termed scabs by those in favour of the strike. The terms strike-breaker, blackleg, and scab labour are also used. Trade unionists also use the epithet "scab" to refer to workers who are willing to accept terms that union workers have rejected and interfere with the strike action. Some say that the word comes from the idea that the "scabs" are covering a wound. However, "scab" was an old-fashioned English insult. An older word is "blackleg" and this is found in the old folk song, Blackleg Miner, which has been sung by many groups.

During "economic" strikes in the U.S., scabs may be hired as permanent replacements.


Strike breakers, Chicago Tribune strike, 1986, Chicago, Illinois
[edit] Other uses of the word "scab"
There have been known cases of people using the word "scab" to mean merely "unauthorized", to describe themselves:

Around 1980, when CB radio was widespread but illegal in Britain, a CB radio users' club in the Hastings area called itself "South Coast Area Breakers": that name's initials come out as "SCAB". Hastings is not an industrial area.
The students at Manchester University normally publish a periodical called "GRIP". One year while its usual editors were busy with exams, other people published editions with various names including once "SCAB".

Answer 3

Chances are that when most of us hear the word "scab," we think of its most common sense, that of the crust that forms on top of a wound. That was the original meaning of "scab," which we borrowed directly from the Old Norse word "skabbr" back in the 13th century.

Although any doctor will tell you that a scab is a good thing, since it protects a wound while it is healing, by about 1590 we were using "scab" to mean "a low or despicable person." The logic of this derogatory sense is not entirely clear. It most likely stems from the implication that such a scoundrel might well be afflicted with syphilis, which in its advanced stages causes a "scabby" skin condition. Incidentally, "sceabb," an Old English word related to "scab," eventually became "shab," which originally meant "covered with scabs," but which we use today only in the form "shabby" to mean "run down."

Since "scab" already was being used to mean "lowlife creep," it's not surprising that by the late 1700s it was being applied to any worker who refused to join an organized trade union movement. As one contemporary source explained in 1792, "What is a scab? He is to his trade what a traitor is to his country.... He first sells the journeymen, and is himself afterwards sold in his turn by the masters, till at last he is despised by both and deserted by all."

By the 19th century, "scab" was being used, primarily in the U.S., to mean a worker willing to cross picket lines to replace a striking worker. The great unionizing drives of the 1930's then transformed this sense of "scab" from industrial slang into a household word.

Answer 4

I think it means "somebody crossing a ballot/ballotline" as in a union vote to strike. Originates from the 1980`s miners strikes.

Answer 5

"Since 'scab' already was being used to mean 'lowlife creep,' it's not surprising that by the late 1700s it was being applied to any worker who refused to join an organized trade union movement. As one contemporary source explained in 1792, 'What is a scab? He is to his trade what a traitor is to his country...' "