An injunction is a court order that directs someone to stop doing something pending the outcome of a legal case. If an employer begins a civil action against a union for inducing breach of contract, he or she could immediately ask the court for an injunction ordering the union stop the industrial action until the case is decided. Historically, an injunction was a legal tool to preserve a situation until a case was finally decided, but in the case of an industrial action, it sometimes had the effect of destroying the reason for the case. Even today, once a union cannot take immediate industrial action, the impetus for the dispute is diminished, the dispute is often lost, and there is no reason to go to court. Union leaders face a difficult decision: whether to disregard the injunction and face personal and union liability for contempt of court, or to abide by the order and potentially give ground in the dispute. March 2016