Picketing (protest) - Types of Picketing

Types of Picketing

Informational picketing is the legal name given to the type of picketing described above. Informational picketing, as described by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, entails picketing by a group, typically a labor or trade union, which inform the public about a matter of concern important to the union. This is a popular picketing technique for nurses to use outside of healthcare facilities. For example, on April 5, 2006 the nurses of the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center participated in two separate informational picketing events to protect the quality of their nursing program. Informational picketing was used to gain public support and promote further bargaining with management.

A mass picket is an attempt to bring as many people as possible to a picket line, in order to demonstrate support for the cause. It is primarily used when only one workplace is being picketed, or for a symbolically or practically important workplace. Due to the numbers involved, a mass picket may turn into a potentially unlawful blockade.

Secondary picketing is where people picket locations that are not directly connected to the issue of protest. This would include component suppliers the picketed business relies on, retail stores that sell products by the company being picketed against, and the private homes of the company's management. In many jurisdictions, secondary pickets do not have the same civil law protection as primary pickets. This tactic of picketing was outlawed in the United Kingdom by the Conservative Party government of Margaret Thatcher in the mid 1980s, but the Labour opposition led by Neil Kinnock was pushing for it to be legalised in the run-up to the 1987 general election. However, these plans had been dropped by the time Labour returned to power under Tony Blair in 1997.

Another tactic is to organize highly mobile pickets who can turn up at any of a company's locations on short notice. These flying pickets are particularly effective against multifacility businesses which could otherwise pursue legal prior restraint and shift operations among facilities if the location of the picket were known with certainty ahead of time.

Picketing is also used by pressure groups across the political spectrum. In particular, picketing has been employed by religious groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church who picket a variety of stores or events that they consider to be sinful.