ES-EN legal translators (and lawyers and professors) often require a minimum basic vocabulary in a specific area of law, something that they will be hard pressed to find searching word-by-word in a dictionary. (In this case, the “problem” with dictionaries is that they are in alphabetical order.) Blog entries labeled “Capsule Vocabularies” will feature some of the basic terminology lists developed for use by my students of legal English that I hope may also be of interest to translator and interpreter colleagues and other legal professionals.

Conflictos laborales—Labor Disputes (US); Industrial Disputes (UK)

Here are some of the basic terms relating to labor disputes in Spain, extracted from my readings on Derecho Laboral:

• boicot—boycott
• plante—work disruption
• paralización de trabajo/actividades—work stoppage
• paro concertado—concerted work stoppage
• ocupación del centro de trabajo; ocupación de talleres—workers’ takeover of workplace premises
• disminución del rendimiento; ralentización del trabajo—slowdown; go-slow (UK)
• huelga—strike
• huelga general—general strike
• huelga intermitente—intermittent strike
• huelga política—political strike
• huelga rotatoria rotating strike
• huelga en puntos clave; huelga neurálgica—selective strike
• huelga de bajo rendimiento—slowdown strike
• huelga de brazos caídos—sit-down/sit-in strike
• huelga de celo; trabajo a reglamento—work-to-rule strike
• huelga de solidaridad—sympathy strike
• huelga de advertencia—token strike; warning strike
• huelga ilegal—unlawful strike
• huelga salvaje—wildcat strike
• llamar a la huelga; declarar una huelga—to call a strike
• ir a la huelga—to go on strike
• comité de huelga—strike committee
• caja de resistencia—strike fund
• piquete de huelga—picket; picketing; picketers
• piquete informativo—informational picketing
• piquete coactivo—coercive picketing
• piquete secundario—secondary picketing
• línea de piquete—picket line
• cierre patronal—lockout
• sustitución de huelguistas—replacement of strikers
• esquirolaje—strikebreaking; scabbing; black-legging (UK)
• esquirol–strikebreaker; scab; blackleg (UK)

Source: Rebecca Jowers. Léxico temático de terminología jurídica español-inglés. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 2015, pp. 489-90.