stop-work

English

Alternative forms

• stopwork, stop work

Etymology

From stop (“to cease; to cause to cease”, verb) +‎ work (noun). Attested from the 20th century.

Noun

stop-work (plural stop-works)

1. (usually attributive) A temporary cessation of work.
   1. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand) Temporary cessation of labor as a form of protest.

      Synonyms: walkout, strike

      a stop-work meeting

      • 1942, New Zealand Department of Labour, Awards, Agreements, Orders, Etc., page 1213:

        41. No stop-work meeting shall be held at the mine without the permission of the manager.

      • 1999 April 13, “NZ Post staff to hold stop-works”, in Dominion, Wellington, page 7:

        MORE than 4000 NZ Post workers will begin a series of nationwide stop-work meetings today to discuss what their union has said is privatisation by the back door.

      • 2016 September 14, “Adelaide train strike to hit network as drivers stop work”, in ABC Premium News, Sydney:

        Train drivers across Adelaide will walk off the job today to attend a stop-work meeting about their enterprise bargaining negotiations.

      • 2022 April 11, Kieran Rooney, quoting Mike McNess, “Bins set to overflow as Cleanway waste workers vote to go on strike”, in Herald Sun, Melbourne:

        Workers at Cleanaway do not make the decision to take stop work action lightly and are aware of the unfortunate impact this will have on the community.

      • 2022 September 27, David Killick, Bob Inglis, “Tasmanian child care services experiencing demand spike as teachers prepare industrial action”, in The Mercury, Hobart:

        State schools will be closed until 10.30am on Wednesday due to a decision by the Australian Education Union to call a two-hour stop-work meeting involving both teachers and teacher assistants.

   2. (chiefly Canada, US) Causing work to cease temporarily for administrative reasons such as safety concerns or legal action.

      a stop-work order.

      • 1944, United States Congress, Interior Department Appropriation Bill for 1944, page 781:

        The Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of Interior has appealed to the War Production Board for reconsideration of the stop-work order of December 12, 1942, on the Newton project, Cache County, Utah

      • 2000 May 27, Coleman Warner, “Morial halts razing of building that contained funeral home”, in Times-Picayune, New Orleans, page B3:

        [Mayor Mark] Morial issued a stop-work order to suspend the razing of the building

      • 2002 December 17, Karen Hill, “Courthouse evades stop-work order”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, page D7:

        The stop-work order, Saxon said, was an attempt to "pretty much get this resolved, to get it done." Decatur officials have said the main issue in the dispute is safety, primarily making the county comply with its stricter fire safety codes.

      • 2018 April 23, Edith Bevin, “Mount Lyell mine stop-work order not acted on before fatal mud rush, inquest told”, in ABC Premium News, Sydney:

        The inquest into the death of Michael Welsh at the Mount Lyell mine in 2014 heard the mine manager, Jared DeRoss, had made the stop work order during the management meeting held daily at 7:15am.