diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
index 8b996f4..32de351 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/parallel.c
@@ -834,6 +834,48 @@
 }
 
 
+
+/**
+ * This function issue shared locks for all tables to be dumped
+ */
+static void
+LockEarly(ArchiveHandle *AH)
+{
+        TocEntry *tocEntry;
+        char* tableNamespace;
+        char* tableName;
+        PQExpBuffer query;
+        PGresult *res;
+        
+        query = createPQExpBuffer();
+        resetPQExpBuffer(query);
+     
+        for( tocEntry = AH->toc->next; tocEntry != AH->toc; tocEntry = tocEntry->next )
+        {
+                
+                if( tocEntry->desc && strcmp( tocEntry->desc, "TABLE DATA") == 0 )
+                {
+                        tableNamespace = tocEntry->namespace;
+                        tableName = tocEntry->tag;
+                        
+                        appendPQExpBuffer(query, 
+                                "lock table %s.%s in access share mode nowait;\n",
+                                PQescapeIdentifier(AH->connection,tableNamespace,strlen(tableNamespace)),
+                                PQescapeIdentifier(AH->connection,tableName,strlen(tableName))
+                                );
+                }
+        }
+        
+        res = PQexec( AH->connection, query->data );
+        if( !res || PQresultStatus(res) != PGRES_COMMAND_OK )
+        {
+                exit_horribly(modulename,"Could not lock the tables to begin the backup job\n\n");
+        }
+        
+        PQclear( res );
+        destroyPQExpBuffer(query);
+}
+
 /*
  * This function is called by both Unix and Windows variants to set up
  * and run a worker process.  Caller should exit the process (or thread)
@@ -867,6 +909,14 @@
 	 */
 	(AH->SetupWorkerPtr) ((Archive *) AH);
 
+        /*
+         * Issue shared locks if --lock-early option is issued at command line
+         */
+        if( ((Archive*)AH)->dopt->lock_early )
+        {    
+                LockEarly(AH);
+        }
+        
 	/*
 	 * Execute commands until done.
 	 */
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup.h b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup.h
index ce3100f..26e2580 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup.h
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup.h
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@
 	int			use_setsessauth;
 	int			enable_row_security;
 	int			load_via_partition_root;
+        int                     lock_early;
 
 	/* default, if no "inclusion" switches appear, is to dump everything */
 	bool		include_everything;
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
index 8733426..a9ce96f 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@
 		{"no-unlogged-table-data", no_argument, &dopt.no_unlogged_table_data, 1},
 		{"no-subscriptions", no_argument, &dopt.no_subscriptions, 1},
 		{"no-sync", no_argument, NULL, 7},
+                {"lock-early", no_argument, &dopt.lock_early, 1},
 
 		{NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 	};
@@ -603,6 +604,15 @@
 	if (dopt.if_exists && !dopt.outputClean)
 		exit_horribly(NULL, "option --if-exists requires option -c/--clean\n");
 
+        /* Basic checks for lock-early logic */
+        if( numWorkers <= 1 )
+        {
+           if( dopt.lock_early )
+           {
+               exit_horribly(NULL, "lock early only works for parallel backup\n" );
+           }
+        }        
+        
 	/* Identify archive format to emit */
 	archiveFormat = parseArchiveFormat(format, &archiveMode);
 
@@ -924,6 +934,8 @@
 	printf(_("  -F, --format=c|d|t|p         output file format (custom, directory, tar,\n"
 			 "                               plain text (default))\n"));
 	printf(_("  -j, --jobs=NUM               use this many parallel jobs to dump\n"));
+	printf(_("      --lock-early             issue shared locks as early as possible for all\n"
+                         "                                tables on all parallel backup workers\n" ));                   
 	printf(_("  -v, --verbose                verbose mode\n"));
 	printf(_("  -V, --version                output version information, then exit\n"));
 	printf(_("  -Z, --compress=0-9           compression level for compressed formats\n"));