A computer program product, apparatus and method for negating initiative for select entries from a shared, strictly FIFO initiative queue in a multi-tasking multi-processor environment. An exemplary embodiment includes a computer program product for negating initiative for select entries from a shared initiative queue in a multi-tasking multi-processor environment, the computer program product including a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method including identifying an element within the environment that has failed and recovered, not removing the element from the shared initiative queue and entering a boundary element entry into the shared initiative queue.