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The article analyzes the protection of the right to strike in Europe and the challenge emerging from the interplay between the social rights legislation of the member states and the common market rules of the European Union (EU). In a comparative perspective, the article examines how analogous dynamics have historically been at play also in the United States (US) because of the interaction between state and federal law. However, the article explains that during the New Deal the US were able to tackle the tension between state social rights guarantees and federal free market principles by enacting a major piece of labour legislation, the Wagner Act, protecting the right to strike at the federal level. The article thus concludes by proposing the adoption of an EU regulation to enhance the protection of industrial action at the supranational level and explaining how this could strike a new balance between market integration and social protection in Europe.