Work stoppages, 2005

By comparison, 141 000 working days were lost in the main settlement in 2004.

A total of 591 employees were involved in the two labour disputes during 2005. Most of the 11 000 days were lost in construction where a strike among the lift engineers resulted in 8 000 lost working days.

In the oil industry 2 900 working days were lost when the oil workers were on strike.

As a rule, years with mid term settlements, such as 2005, have fewer work stoppages than years with main settlements. The main settlement takes place every other year and means that two-year agreements are signed in most areas. A revision of the agreements during the main settlement takes place in years with mid-term settlements. This explains some of the major changes in the statistics from one year to another.

About the statistical basis

The statistics cover industrial disputes, or work stoppages, of at least one day's duration. The number of disputes per year is computed from the number of trade union federations or confederations that have had groups of employees involved a work stoppage. The following types of strikes are covered: legal strikes, illegal strikes, sympathy strikes, political or protest strikes, general strikes, work stoppages started by employees, rotating strikes. Strikes that are discontinued and later resumed for the same reason count as one strike unless where the interruption lasts more than two months. A dispute resumed after more than two months counts as a new strike. A dispute that occurs one year and continues the next is included in both years, i.e. as two strikes.

Tables:

• Table 1 Work stoppages
• Table 2 Work stoppages, by industry