Almost 1.4m working days lost in UK from labour disputes in 2011
In 2011, 1,389,700 working days were lost in the UK from 149 stoppages of work arising from labour disputes. In 2011 there were 88 stoppages in the public sector compared with 61 in the private sector after a fairly even split in the number of disputes in 2010.
The ONS article below presents analysis of the three main measures of labour disputes; working days lost, stoppages and workers involved - by industry, region, cause, size and duration.
The statistics are put into context by considering estimates of working days lost per 1,000 employees and working time lost through strikes as a proportion of time actually worked. Data are taken from a number of sources including regular centralised returns from some industries and public bodies, as well as directly from the employer or trade union involved after ONS has identified disputes from press reports.
In the Republic of Ireland, RTE reports that during the second quarter of this year, 7,754 days were lost to three industrial disputes, according to the Central Statistics Office, an amazing 13-fold increase on the same period the year before.
