At a marketing campaign occasion earlier this month in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina mentioned former president Ronald Reagan had it proper when he fired hundreds of hanging air site visitors controllers in 1981.

“Ronald Reagan gave us an excellent instance when federal workers determined they had been going to strike,” the Republican presidential contender mentioned. “He mentioned, ‘You strike, you are fired.’ Easy idea to me.”

The remark was met by fast blowback from the labor motion, because the variety of strikes and different labor actions has exploded this yr. Some 362,000 staff have gone on strike to this point in 2023, in contrast with 36,600 over the identical interval two years in the past, based on the Cornell ILR Labor Motion Tracker.

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The United Auto Employees union filed a labor criticism towards Scott for his remarks, accusing his marketing campaign of interfering with staff’ rights to have interaction in union exercise underneath federal regulation. 1000’s of auto staff have gone on strike at vegetation throughout the nation of late, demanding greater wages and higher advantages.

Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, a regulation professor at Indiana College Bloomington, mentioned that Reagan’s controversial motion firing air site visitors controllers continues to be condemned and revered, relying on whom you are speaking to.

“There by no means had a been a president so hostile to union staff, and it may have gone dangerous,” Dau-Schmidt mentioned. “If one airplane went down, Reagan would have regarded like a goat.

“However there have been no main crashes, and conservatives now simply say, ‘You need to be powerful,” Dau-Schmidt added.

A spokesperson for the Scott marketing campaign defended the senator’s feedback.

“Sen. Scott has repeatedly made clear, each at that occasion and others, that Joe Biden should not depart taxpayers on the hook for any labor deal,” they mentioned.

This is what the regulation says about firing staff on strike.

The Nationwide Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted non-public sector staff the proper to strike, mentioned Sharon Block, a professor at Harvard Legislation Faculty and the manager director of the Middle for Labor and a Simply Financial system.

“Below the NLRA, strikers can’t be fired for hanging.” Block mentioned.

The concept being, Dau-Schmidt added, that “if capital goes to be organized, then labor ought to be organized, too.”

Nevertheless, when Reagan fired the air site visitors controllers, he was performing throughout the regulation as a result of the NLRA’s proper to strike doesn’t apply to federal workers, Dau-Schmidt mentioned.

Though Scott particularly cited a case of firing federal staff on the marketing campaign occasion, his feedback had been broadly taken as hostile towards all union exercise.

Though non-public sector staff’ on strike are shielded from termination, they will in sure circumstances be quickly or completely changed if their employer hires another person to do their job, Dau-Schmidt mentioned.

“Everlasting substitute seems to be lots like firing from the staff’ perspective,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, staff have sure protections.

If a striker’s substitute leaves the job for no matter motive, the employee who was on strike have to be supplied the place earlier than anybody else is employed, Block mentioned.

If staff had been on strike attributable to unfair labor practices versus financial situations, they could even have a proper to reinstatement.

Past the regulation, it might be silly from a enterprise perspective for the automakers, or any massive firm, to unexpectedly half methods with their labor pressure, Dau-Schmidt mentioned.

“In the event that they began firing these staff, they’d discover all of UAW staff on strike,” he mentioned. “It may take months or years to interchange everybody, and so they’d lose some huge cash.”

— Further reporting by CNBC’s Spencer Kimball.