The term lock-in refers to the practice of physically preventing workers from leaving a workplace. In most jurisdictions this is illegal but is occasionally reported, especially in some developing countries.
Lock-ins should not be confused with a sit-down strike like the Flint Sit-Down Strike between the United Automobile Workers and General Motors Corporation.
More recently, lock-ins have been carried out by employees against management, which have been labelled 'bossnapping' by the mainstream media. In France during March 2009, 3M's national manager was locked in his office for 24 hours by employees in a dispute over redundancies. The following month, union employees of a call centre managed by Synovate in Auckland locked the front doors of the office, in response to management locking them out. Such practices bear some resemblance to the gherao in India. It is also caused by disagreement between employer and employees in a certain department.
Read more about this topic: Lockout (industry)