Final answer:
A deadlock in labor negotiations occurs when parties involved in a strike, such as a labor union and employers, are unable to progress toward an agreement because of opposing objectives.
Step-by-step explanation:
A deadlock occurs when the parties involved in a strike reach a point during negotiations where they can no longer make any progress towards an agreement. In the context of labor relations, this happens when the union and the employers have such fundamentally opposed objectives that compromise seems impossible. For instance, if the union is demanding higher wages while the employer is seeking to lower costs, both parties may find it unfeasible to reach an agreement that satisfies either side.
Such deadlocks can lead to prolonged strikes, invoking legal and governmental mechanisms, like a mandatory cooling-off period, where strikers are ordered to return to work while negotiations continue. Moreover, this impasse can have wider social and economic implications, especially when the industry involved is critical to public welfare, such as the 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike.