Lockouts becoming more common in labor disputes

A tentative deal between the NFL and the league's referees has been reached, ending the lockout imposed by the owners. NFL refs aren't the only workers who have been locked out of their jobs. In Minnesota, about 13-hundred workers from American Crystal Sugar have been locked out for more than a year. And NHL hockey players are in their second week of a lockout.

Lockouts used to be relatively rare in the United States. But an analysis by Bloomberg BNA found that employer lockouts of workers account for a growing proportion of work stoppages in the United States. More than eleven percent of work stoppages last year were lockouts, which is a dramatic increase from two decades ago.

John Remington is a retired professor of industrial relations at the University of Minnesota. He spoke with Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer about the trend.

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