Developments in industrial action - 2000-4

This record reviews developments in industrial action across the European Union - plus Bulgaria, Norway and Romania - over 2000-4. We find considerable differences between the countries in terms of the amount of industrial action, with Spain and Italy most 'strike-prone' and Poland and Lithuania least, and a considerably higher average level of action in the 'old' Member States than the new. However, overall, levels are generally low in historical terms. Transport/communications and industry/manufacturing are the sectors most prone to conflict, followed by the broad public sector (notably healthcare/social work and education). The most common cause of industrial action is disputes over pay.

This report from the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), based on contributions from its national centres, seeks to provide a broad, general indication of trends in industrial action over the five-year period 2000-4 in the 25 European Union Member States, two candidate countries (Bulgaria and Romania) and Norway.

Industrial action - strikes, lock-outs etc - is one of the most high-profile aspects of industrial relations, not least in terms of media coverage and public impact and attention. It is seen in some quarters as an important indicator of whether or not industrial relations systems are functioning well, with some viewing industrial action as a sign that a system is malfunctioning, and others regarding it as a relatively normal feature of a healthy and well-functioning system. In June 2001, the European Commission issued a Communication on Employment and social policies: a framework for investing in quality. This document suggests ways of promoting 'quality' in employment and social policy and includes a set of proposed indicators for measuring such quality. One of the indicators listed for 'social dialogue and worker involvement' is 'working days lost in industrial disputes'. The idea is taken up in a 2004 report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, entitled Quality in industrial relations: Comparative indicators, which suggests industrial disputes/action as an indicator of quality, and strikes as a 'key indicator'.

Industrial action is an area where international comparisons are notoriously difficult. This is largely because the way in which statistics are produced differs greatly between countries, with the definition of the industrial action recorded varying considerably, and the data being collected by a variety of official and other bodies. For example, as we will see below, criteria for inclusion in the statistics may vary in terms of: the length of the industrial action required before the action is recorded; the number of workers who must be involved for the action to be recorded; the nature of the industrial action involved; or whether or not the action is official or unofficial. Some countries measure hours lost due to industrial action, while others measure days. Some countries do not appear to produce any statistics for some or all of the indicators of industrial action. Acknowledging these problems, in 1993, the International Labour Organisation's International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted a resolution setting out a uniform set of definitions for the recording of statistics related to labour disputes, but it does not appear that this has been adopted in all EU Member States.

These issues should be borne in mind in reading this report and the notes accompanying tables should be read carefully. Our objective is to provide some broad general data on recent developments, while pointing out the pitfalls involved in comparisons.

Basic industrial action indicators

Tables 1 to 3 below provide information on three basic indicators of industrial action: the number of working days lost through industrial action; the number of workers involved in industrial action; and the number of disputes. We cover the period from 2000 to 2004, though in some countries, figures for 2004 are not yet available in early 2005, or only partial figures can be obtained. The data from some countries are very patchy, and are often not published for some considerable time after the year in question. It should be noted that no gender-segregated statistics for industrial action are available from national sources.

The statistics provided are from official public sources in most cases: national statistical offices in the cases of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and the UK; labour ministries in the cases of Cyprus, France, Hungary, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain; and other relevant public bodies in Germany and Sweden. Such official statistics seem to be absent in the other countries, and we provide data - often only partial - provided by trade unions or related bodies for Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The figures for Estonia are estimates based on reports from trade unions, public authorities and other sources, while those for Luxembourg are expert estimates. There appear to be no official or other reliable sources of data at all for Greece and Latvia (in the latter case, largely because strikes have been so rare, though this may be starting to change).

As mentioned above, the definition of the industrial action recorded in the statistics provided varies considerably. To give some examples:

• in many countries - examples include Estonia, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Spain - the only form of industrial action recorded in the statistics is strikes. It seems that other forms, such as lock-outs by employers, are explicitly included in fewer cases, such as, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK;
• in cases such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, both official/lawful and unofficial/unlawful action is counted in the statistics. By contrast, only official action is recorded in Austria, while in Lithuania only strikes (and warning strikes) announced in line with the terms of the relevant legislation are included. In Romania only 'disputes of interest', as defined in the relevant legislation (essentially disputes related to collective bargaining over new agreements), are counted;
• while most countries do not appear to impose a minimum duration for the inclusion of action in the statistics, only stoppages lasting at least one day are recorded in Ireland (where there must also be a total loss of 10 or more person-days), Norway and the UK, and only action lasting more than two hours in Cyprus. Short warning strikes (as defined by law) are explicitly included in the data for Estonia and Lithuania but are not generally reported and thus included in the data for Germany;
• while most do not, a few countries exclude action involving fewer than a certain number of workers - eg 10 in the UK;
• the figures do not always cover the whole economy. The official statistics do not include all or some of the public sector in Portugal and France, for instance. The trade union statistics used for Slovenia (in the absence of official data) refer only to strikes organised by affiliates of the Union of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (Zveza svobodnih sindikatov Slovenije, ZSSS) in individual companies and are a useful (though not complete) indicator only for production industry. However, they exclude certain service sectors, mainly public services (health, education, railways etc) where ZSSS has few members and any strikes are organised mainly at sectoral or occupational level, and ignore strikes organised by (major) non-affiliates in sectors such as finance and transport/communications, as well as not counting 'general' strikes; and
• finally, it might be noted that collection methods differ. For example, the statistics are based on reports from employers in Germany, from larger public and private employers and employers’ associations in Denmark, and from employers’ associations and in the media in Finland. By contrast, in Italy data on conflicts are provided by local police offices.

Table 1. Working days lost through industrial action, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Austria	2,947	0	9,306	1,305,466	178
Belgium	nd	nd	60,954	nd	nd
Cyprus	1,136	4,778	7,051	6,901	nd
Denmark	124,800	59,500	193,600	55,100	76,400
Estonia	1,088	5	37	20,192	1,548
Finland	253,838	60,645	74,985	66,136	40,233
France	807,558	691,914	nd	nd	nd
Germany	10,776	26,833	310,149	163,281	50,673
Hungary	636,267	11,676	915	844	8,022
Ireland	97,046	114,613	21,257	37,482	8,444
Italy	884,142	1,026,000	4,860,857	1,874,714	690,571
Lithuania	10,394	2,167	0	0	0
Luxembourg	2,000	0	500	2,800	6,000
Malta	2,564	2,792	744	3,313.5	nd
Netherlands	9,400	45,100	245,500	15,000	nd
Norway	496,568	619	150,775	962	141,179
Poland	73,400	4,200	100	6,600	nd
Portugal	40,500	41,600	108,100	53,400	nd
Romania	565,422	1,114	34,223	22,247	nd
Slovenia	6,751	25,041	22,716	14,408	nd
Spain	3,577,301	1,916,987	4,938,535	789,043	928,151
Sweden	272	11,098	838	627,541	15,282
UK	499,000	525,000	1,323,000	499,000	904,900

Source: EIRO.

* Partial figures only in some cases - see notes.

The figures in table 1 (no data are available for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia and Slovakia) should be read in conjunction with the following notes.

• Austria: figures from the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) and Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB).
• Belgium: figure from National Institute of Statistics (Institut National de Statistique/Nationaal Instituut voor de Statistiek, INS/NIS);
• Cyprus: figures from Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance;
• Denmark: figures, Statistics Denmark, cover all disputes.
• Estonia: estimates based on data from the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions (Eesti Ametiühingute Keskliit, EAKL), public conciliator's office and media reports.
• Finland: figures from Statistics Finland.
• France: figures from National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE) and the Ministry of Employment's Office for Research and Statistics (Direction de l'animation de la recherche, des études et des statistiques du ministère de l'Emploi, DARES); only strikes included and parts of the public sector excluded.
• Germany: figures from Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit).
• Hungary: figures, from the Ministry of Employment and Labour (Foglalkoztatáspolitikai és Munkaügyi Minisztérium, FMM), cover strikes only.
• Ireland: figures from the Central Statistical Office (disputes are included if they involve a work stoppage lasting for at least one day and the total time lost is 10 or more person days); 2004 figure refers to first nine months of year only.
• Italy: figures from National Institute of Statistics (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Istat); 2004 figure is provisional; relevant Istat statistics refer to hours lost and figures in the table are an estimate, based on the assumption of a seven-hour day; figures include both conflicts 'connected with the employment relationship' and conflicts 'extraneous to the employment relationship' (ie political strikes).
• Lithuania: figures, from Statistics Lithuania (Lietuvos statistikos departamentas), cover strikes and warning strikes.
• Luxembourg: figures are estimates.
• Malta: figures from Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER).
• Netherlands: figures from Central Statistical Office (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS).
• Norway: figures, from Statistics Norway, cover strike action that lasts for at least one day.
• Poland: figures, from Central Statistical Office (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, GUS), refer to strikes.
• Portugal: figures from Ministry of Labour and Solidarity.
• Romania: figures, from Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family, refer to 'disputes of interest'.
• Slovenia: figures, from Union of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (Zveza svobodnih sindikatov Slovenije, ZSSS), cover only strikes organised by its affiliates in individual companies (thus excluding both large parts of the economy and strikes with a wider scope); relevant ZSSS statistics refer to hours lost and figures in the table are an estimate, based on the assumption of an eight-hour day.
• Spain: figures, from Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, MTAS) labour statistics, refer to working days lost due to strikes; 2004 figure is for first eight months only.
• Sweden: figures from the National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet).
• UK: figures, from Office for National Statistics (ONS), exclude stoppages involving fewer than 10 workers, of less than one day, or not directly linked to terms and conditions of employment (negligible in practice).

Table 2. Number of workers involved in industrial action, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Austria	19,439	0	6,305	779,182	30
Bulgaria	15,000	20,000	305,892	79,000	560,000
Cyprus	180	1,699	3,496	3,535	nd
Denmark	75,656	54,752	110,854	44,365	75,710
Estonia	8,700	40	299	20,192	258
Finland	84,092	21,715	70,867	91,866	23,679
France	222,241	142,608	nd	nd	nd
Germany	7,429	60,948	428,303	57,205	101,419
Hungary	40,111	23.135	3,527	3,376	8,412
Ireland	28,192	32,168	3,553	3,567	1,998
Italy	687,000	1,125,000	5,442,000	2,484,557	nd
Lithuania	3,303	1,703	0	0	0
Luxembourg	250	0	100	2,800	6,000
Malta	5,000	1,859	678	1,945	nd
Netherlands	10,300	37,400	28,600	10,800	nd
Norway	93,889	29	9,865	95	9,873
Poland	7,900	1,400	10	3,000	nd
Portugal	38,800	26,100	80,200	30,300	nd
Romania	236,906	270,587	165,492	142,059	177,220
Slovakia	0	0	0	18,326	nd
Slovenia	1,960	1,916	1,880	1,627	nd
Spain	2,061,349	1,242,458	4,528,210	728,481	673,113
Sweden	163	9,831	711	80,538	2,449
UK	183,000	180,000	943,000	151,000	292,700

Source: EIRO.

* Partial figures only in some cases - see notes.

Sources and notes as for table 1 (no data are available for Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece and Latvia), with following additional comments

• Bulgaria: figures from the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and (for 2003 and 2004) the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa (CL Podkrepa); the figures are minima and include workers involved in protest rallies as well as strikes.
• Ireland: 2004 figure is for first nine months of year only.
• Spain: 2004 figure is for first eight months of year only.
• Slovakia: figures from Slovak Statistical Office (Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky, ŠÚ SR). 2003 figure excludes a one-hour nationwide warning strike organised by trade unions.

Table 3. Number of industrial disputes, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Cyprus	166	236	174	245	nd
Czech Republic	24	27	20	36	34
Denmark	1,081	954	1,349	681	804
Estonia	39	21	17	12	20
Finland	96	84	76	112	82
France	1,563	1,089	nd	nd	nd
Hungary	28	26	25	40	27
Ireland	39	26	27	24	8
Italy	966	746	616	708	nd
Luxembourg	1	0	1	1	1
Malta	12	14	5	8	nd
Netherlands	23	16	16	14	nd
Norway	29	3	16	5	12
Poland	44	11	1	24	11
Portugal	250	208	250	170	nd
Romania	141	103	114	121	79
Slovakia	0	3	3	1	2
Slovenia	19	16	19	7	nd
Spain	727	729	684	674	457
Sweden	2	20	10	11	9
UK	212	194	146	133	130

Source: EIRO.

* Partial figures only in some cases - see notes.

Sources and notes are as for table 1 (no data are available for Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania), with the following additional comments.

• Czech Republic: figures, from Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS), refer to its affiliates only.
• Estonia: figures from public conciliator's office.
• Ireland: 2004 figure is for first nine months of year only.
• Poland: 2004 figure is an estimate.
• Slovakia: figures from sectoral trade union organisations.
• Spain: 2004 figure is for first eight months of year only.

The figures in Tables 1 to 3 provide some indications of trends in individual countries, but they are of little use for purposes of international comparisons. The very different sizes of the countries mean that the absolute figures give little indication of the extent to which countries are strike-prone or otherwise in comparison with others. The only measure which enables this to be compared is the number of working days lost per 1,000 employees. Table 4 below provides data on this indicator (based on estimates in many cases).

Table 4. Working days lost through industrial action per 1,000 employees, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Austria	0.9	0	2.9	410.0	0.1
Belgium	nd	nd	17.6	nd	nd
Cyprus	4.5	19.1	28.2	27.6	nd
Denmark	50.7	24.2	78.6	22.3	31.0
Estonia	1.9	0	0.1	34.3	2.6
Finland	123.2	29.4	36.4	32.1	19.5
France	54.0	45.0	32.0	31.0	nd
Germany	0.3	0.8	9.6	5.1	1.6
Hungary	236.0	4.0	0.4	0.3	3.0
Ireland	65.4	77.2	14.3	25.2	7.6
Italy	55.1	63.9	302.9	116.8	43.0
Lithuania	10.2	2.2	0	0	0
Luxembourg	9.5	0	2.3	12.0	24.3
Malta	nd	18.9	5.0	22.3	nd
Netherlands	1.3	6.3	34.2	2.1	nd
Norway	236.6	0.3	71.2	0.5	67.1
Poland	7.4	0.4	0	0.7	nd
Portugal	17.0	11.0	33.0	12.0	nd
Romania	122.4	0	7.5	0.7	nd
Slovenia	8.7	32.4	29.4	18.6	nd
Spain	292.5	151.0	377.1	58.1	35.6
Sweden	0.1	2.9	0.2	162.4	4.3
UK	20.0	20.0	51.0	19.0	34.0

* In some cases, extrapolations from partial figures only - see notes.

Source: EIRO.

The figures provided in table 4 for Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden are rough estimates calculated by dividing total working days lost by number of employees (as stated in Eurostat's 2003 labour force survey). Otherwise, sources and notes are as for table 1, with the following additional comments.

• Austria: figures are national estimates.
• Germany: figures from Cologne Institute for Business Research (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, IW).
• Ireland: 2004 figure is extrapolation of figure for first nine months of year only.
• Italy: 2004 figure is based on provisional figure for working days lost.
• Malta: based on the number of workers in June of each year, as recorded in labour force survey; comparable data not available for 2000 as the survey started only in 2001.
• Slovenia: figures used do not include all working days lost - see note to table 1.
• Spain: figures based on labour force survey figures for employees in second quarter of each year; 2004 figure is extrapolation of figure for first eight months of year only.
• Sweden: 2004 figure is extrapolation of figure for first 11 months of year only.

Notable points highlighted by table 4 include the following:

• the very low levels of industrial action (and indeed absence in some years) in a number of the new EU Member States - notably Estonia, Hungary (except in 2000), Lithuania and Poland - and several 'old' ones - Austria (except in 2003), Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden (except in 2003);
• the fact that increases in dispute activity often follow the course of the bargaining cycle. For example, the multi-year cycles in Denmark and Norway are mirrored in the industrial action figures, with upsurges in the years of large-scale bargaining rounds;
• the lack of any consistent trend in most countries, with figures often rising and falling from year to year. These annual variations can be enormous - with countries experiencing major peaks in action before and after years of relatively lower action including Austria in 2003, Italy in 2002 and Sweden in 2003; and
• the very different pictures in the broadly comparable (in size terms) 'big five' old EU Member States - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Italy and especially Spain show considerably higher levels of industrial action than France, the UK and Germany (notably so), though both Italy and Spain appear to have experienced a rapid fall in 2003 and 2004. The largest of the new Member States, Poland, has a consistently low level of action, below that of even Germany.

Figure 1 below gives the average figures for working days lost through industrial action per 1,000 employees over 2000-3 (insufficient data are available for the inclusion of 2004), for 22 countries where the relevant information is available.

Source: EIRO. * Average of three years only. ** Average whole EU (20 countries), average new EU Member States (7 countries), average old EU Member States (13 countries)

On average over 2000-3, the highest levels of industrial action were found in Spain (219.7 days lost per 1,000 workers) and Italy (134.7 days lost) and the lowest in Poland (2.1 days lost) and Lithuania (3.1 days lost). The overall average for all 22 countries was 45.2 days lost, while that for the EU was slightly lower at 44.2. Within the EU, the figure in the new Member States (18.9 days lost) was only about a third of that in the old Member States (57.8 days).

For comparison, over 1998-2002, the annual average for working days lost through industrial action stood at 47 in the USA (ie around the EU 25 average) and only one day in Japan (see Labour Market Trends, April 2004, UK Office for National Statistics - based on ILO and OECD data). The overall OECD average was 49 days (TN0502102F).

For the 2000-3 four-year period, the 22 European countries can be divided into three groups:

• countries where industrial action was at low levels, with an average of under 20 working days lost per year for every 1,000 employees - Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal;
• countries where industrial action was at moderate levels, with an average of 20-70 working days lost per year for every 1,000 workers - Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK; and
• countries where industrial action was at relatively high levels, with an average of over 70 working days lost per year for every 1,000 workers - Austria, Italy, Norway and Spain.

However, the average figures for such a short period cannot give a proper picture of national situations and of trends, with individual years, which may be highly unusual, affecting them disproportionately. For example, Austria has traditionally had a very low level of industrial action, but 2003 saw strike activity reaching its highest level since the Second World War. This resulted from large-scale trade union mobilisation, mainly in opposition to government reform plans related to public pensions and railway restructuring (AT0411202F). As a result, Austria recorded the highest annual figure (410) for working days lost per 1,000 workers of any country over 2000-4, and its 2000-3 annual average was inflated to over 100 days. Over 1998-2002, Austria's annual average had stood at only 0.8 days. Similarly, Sweden had an annual average of around five working days lost over 1998-2002, but 2003 witnessed a pay bargaining conflict (among blue-collar municipal workers) which was the largest in a decade and pushed the 2000-3 annual average up to over 40 days lost. Similar situations can be seen in Finland (2000), Hungary (2000), Norway (2000) and Romania (2000).

Although there are considerable differences between the levels of industrial action in the various countries, it should be noted that levels of industrial action throughout the EU are generally at a low level, when compared with previous years. In the first half of the 1980s (according to Eurostat figures), countries such as Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK averaged over 400 days lost per 1,000 workers annually, while Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Portugal averaged over 100. While levels of activity generally dropped off in the second half of the 1980s, Greece and Spain still averaged over 600 days lost annually, while Ireland, Italy and the UK averaged over 100. The early 2000s have thus clearly been a period of relative industrial peace in many countries.

Sectors most affected

Industrial action is rarely spread evenly through the economy, often being concentrated in particular sectors, either generally or in particular years. Table 5 below indicates the three sectors most affected by industrial action each year over 2000-4 (data are not available for all years in all cases) in each of the 27 countries for which any information is available, along with the percentage of all days lost through industrial action accounted for by each sector (where available).

Table 5. Sectors most affected by industrial action, 2000-4

Country/Year	1	2	3
Austria
2000	Federal railways	Vienna local transport	-
2001	-	-	-
2002	Public education	Post buses	Federal railways
2003	(All sectors)	Federal railways	Austrian Airlines
2004	Post buses	Austrian Airlines	.
Belgium
2002	Industrial manufacturing (52%)	Transport and communication (13%)	Real estate, research and development and processing activities (10%)
Bulgaria
2002	Education	Mining	Railways
2003	Tobacco production	-	-
2004	Education	Mining	Healthcare
Cyprus
2000	Hotels	-	-
2001	Construction	Services	'Economic organisations'
2002	Transport	Hotels and electrical installations (equal)
2003	Services	Construction	-
Czech Republic
2000	Metalworking	-	-
2001	Metalworking	-	-
2002	Metalworking	-	-
2003	Metalworking	Wood / forestry / water	Chemicals
2004	Metalworking	Wood / forestry / water	Public sector
Denmark
2000	Food industry (22%)	Metalworking (18%)	Transport (14%) (more days lost in local government, but public sector not included in overall figures until 2002)
2001	Food industry (34%)	Metalworking (24%)	Transport (10%)
2002	Public sector (42%)	Metalworking (17%)	Food industry (16%)
2003	Metalworking (25%)	Public sector (21%)	Food industry (20%)
2004	Food industry (39%)	Metalworking (22%)	Transport (11%)
Estonia
2000	Healthcare	-	-
2001	Railways	-	-
2002	Railways	Road transport	-
2003	Education	-	-
2004	Railways	Civil service	-
Finland
2000	Paper industry (54%)	Transport (28%)	Forestry (8%)
2001	Healthcare (76%)	Metalworking (11%)	-
2002	Construction (67%)	Metalworking (14%)	Finance (11%)
2003	Paper industry (27%)	Metalworking (19%)	Forestry (15%)
2004	Metalworking	Paper industry	-
France
2000	Civil service (65%)	Transport (28%)	-
2001	Civil service (61%)	Transport (39%)	-
Germany
2000	Printing and media (38%)	Commerce (19%)	Transport and communication (5%)
2001	Car manufacturing (69%)	Transport and communication (18%)	Machinery manufacture (6%)
2002	Car manufacturing (47%)	Machinery manufacture (18%)	Office machinery manufacture (5%)
2003	Car manufacturing (79%)	Steel (13%)	Commerce (1%)
2004	Car manufacturing (69%)	Machinery manufacture (16%)	Printing and media (8%)
Hungary
2000	Healthcare	Manufacturing	Transport
2001	Education	Manufacturing	Transport
2002	Manufacturing	Transport	Education
2003	Healthcare	Manufacturing	Education
2004	Healthcare	Transport	Manufacturing
Ireland
2000	Transport	Teaching	Nursing
2001	Teaching (65%)	Transport / communication (14%)	Manufacturing (13%)
2002	Manufacturing (14%)	Health / social work (6%)	-
2004 (first nine months)	Manufacturing (28%)	Finance and other business services (27%)	-
Italy (number of strikes)
2000	Manufacturing	Transport	Public administration
2001	Manufacturing	Transport	Public administration
2002	Manufacturing	Transport	Finance
2003	Manufacturing	Transport / telecommunications	Public administration
2004 (first nine months)	Finance (59%)	Transport (20%)	-
Latvia
2004	Healthcare	-	-
Lithuania
2000	Education (93%)	Transport, storage and communication (7%)	-
2001	Education (94%)	Manufacturing (6%)	.
2002	-	-	-
2003	-	-	-
2004	-	-	-
Luxembourg
2000	Private security	-	-
2001	-	-	-
2002	Transport	-	-
2003	Transport	-	-
2004	Steel industry	-	-
Malta
2000	Banking (66%)	Public sector (14%)	Private sector (12%)
2001	Independent statutory bodies (88%)	Public sector (11%)	Private sector (0.4%)
2002	Private sector (92%)	Public sector (8%)	-
Netherlands
2000	Industry (36%)	Transport / communication (35%)	Government and education (28%)
2001	Non-commercial services (52%)	Commercial services (29%)	Building / construction (19%)
Norway
2000	Manufacturing (58%)	Construction (19%)	Health / social services (11%)
2001	Hotels / restaurants (84%)	Manufacturing (16%)	-
2002	Hotels / restaurants (46%)	Manufacturing (29%)	Health / social services (13%)
2003	-	-	-
2004	Oil / gas production (30%)	Construction (28%)	Transport (24%)
Poland
2003	Healthcare	Steelworks	Coalmining
2004	Railways	Public road transport	Coalmining
Portugal
2000	Transport and communication	Manufacturing	Real estate and other services
2001	Manufacturing	Transport and communication	Real estate and other services
2002	Manufacturing	Transport and communication	Fishing
2003	Transport and communication	Manufacturing	Health and social services
Romania (number of workers involved)
2000	Machinery and equipment	Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products	Transport, storage and communication
2001	Transport, storage and communication	Machinery and equipment	Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products
2002	Transport, storage and communication	Machinery and equipment	Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products
2003	Machinery and equipment	Transport, storage and communication	Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products
2004	Transport, storage and communication	Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products	Machinery and equipment
Slovakia
2001	Metalworking	-	-
2002	-	-	-
2003	Railways	-	-
2004	Public bus transport	Paper and pulp production	-
Slovenia (ZSSS member unions)
2000	Metalworking and electrical industry (38%)	Construction (29%)	Textiles and leather processing (18%)
2001	Metalworking and electrical industry (48%)	Retail (45%)	Textiles and leather processing (6%)
2002	Textiles and leather processing (70%)	Retail (10%)	Metalworking and electrical industry (10%)
2003	Textiles and leather processing (81%)	Metalworking and electrical industry (11%)	Agriculture and food production (7%)
Spain
2000	Construction (40%)	Retail and domestic repairs (14%)	Public administration, defence, social security etc (11%)
2001	Construction (30%)	Metalworking (16%)	Manufacture of office machinery, IT equipment etc (13%)
2002	Metalworking (3%)	Transport by land and pipeline (3%)	Medical and veterinary activities, social services (2%)
2003	Metalworking (38%)	Transport by land and pipeline (11%)	Auxiliary transport activities, travel agencies, communications (6%)
2004 (first eight months)	Construction (33%)	Metalworking (19%)	Education (10%)
Sweden
2000	Pharmacies	Theatres	-
2001	Journalism	Railways	-
2002	-	-	-
2003	Railways	Electrical work	Municipalities
2004	Transport	Electrical work	-
UK
2000	Transport / storage /communication (20%)	Health / social work (12%)	Public administration (9%)
2001	Public administration (41%)	Transport / storage / communication (20%)	Health (14%)
2002	Public administration (37%)	Education (28%)	Health (11%)
2003	Public administration (28%)	Education (26%)	Transport / storage /communication (25%)
2004	Public administration (48%)	Education (42%)	Transport / storage /communication (5%)

Source: EIRO. Notes - see table 1 above, data for some countries based on information from trade unions etc or expert estimates.

Across the countries covered (and allowing for differing definitions of sectors), the sectors most affected by industrial action over 2000-4 were probably transport and communications (with railways often playing a major role) and industry/manufacturing (with metalworking particularly prominent within this category). The broad public sector (with healthcare and social work and education particularly prominent) was close behind. Construction is also important in countries such as Cyprus and Spain. Private sector services did not figure very often in the top three sectors in most countries, though with exceptions such as hotels/restaurants in Cyprus and Norway, finance in Finland, Ireland, Italy and Malta, and commerce/retail in Germany and Slovenia. In some countries, particular sectors which were not prominent elsewhere featured highly in particular years, such as mining in Bulgaria and Poland, forestry in the Czech Republic and Finland, fishing in Portugal and oil/gas production in Norway. Although the nature of the data does not always allow the private and public sectors to be distinguished, it appears that the distribution of industrial action between the two varies considerably between the countries. For example, countries where a relatively high proportion of the most strike-prone industries are in the public sector include Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the UK, while the private sector seems more prominent in countries such as Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovenia and Spain.

Table 5 indicates the extent to which a particular sector may dominate the industrial action figures in a particular year. For example, a single sector accounted for half or more of all working days lost in: Belgium in 2002 (manufacturing); Finland in 2000 (paper industry), 2001 (healthcare) and 2002 (construction); France in 2000-1 (civil service); Germany in 2001 and 2003 (car manufacturing); Ireland in 2001 (education); Lithuania in 2000-1 (education); Malta in 2000 (banking) and 2001 (independent statutory bodies); the Netherlands in 2001 (non-commercial services); Norway in 2000 (hotels/restaurants) and 2001 (manufacturing); and Slovenia in 2002-3 (textiles and leather processing).

Reasons for industrial action

Industrial action statistics or other sources from 22 countries allow the main causes of industrial action to be identified. Table 6 below indicates the three main cause for industrial action in these countries over 2000-4 (data are not available for all years in all cases) along with the percentage of all days lost through industrial action accounted for by each reason (where available).

Table 6. Main causes of industrial action, 2000-4

Country/Year	1	2	3
Austria
2000	Government welfare reform plans	-	-
2001	-	-	-
2002	Government education spending cutbacks	Rail restructuring	Privatisation of post-bus company
2003	Government pension reform	Rail restructuring	Pay (Austrian Airlines)
2004	Privatisation of post-bus company	Pay (Austrian Airlines)	-
Bulgaria
2000	Incomes policy	Unemployment	Fixed-term contracts
2001	Pay levels	Unemployment	Wage arrears
2002	Unemployment	Pay levels	Privatisation
2003	Government economic and social policy	Pay levels	-
2004	Labour law changes	Pay levels	Labour and union rights
Czech Republic			.
2000	Bargaining over collective agreements	Pay	Job losses
2001	Bargaining over collective agreements	Pay	Job losses
2002	Bargaining over collective agreements	Pay	Job losses
2003	Bargaining over collective agreements	Pay	Job losses
2004	Bargaining over collective agreements	Pay	Job losses
Denmark*
2000	Pay (58.1%)	Dismissals (7.1%)	Political issues (6.5%)
2001	Pay (51.1%)	Dismissals (8.1%)	Political issues (5.5%)
2002	Pay (32.1%)	Dismissals (30.0%)	Political issues (7.0%)
2003	Pay (43.8%)	Dismissals (8.1%)	Political issues (4.8%)
2004	Pay (30.0%)	Political issues (24.0%)	Sympathy action (12.0%)
Estonia
2000	Pay	-	-
2001	Pay	-	-
2002	Pay	-	-
2003	Pay	-	-
2004	Pay	-	-
Finland
2000	Collective bargaining	-	-
2001	Collective bargaining	-	-
2002	Collective bargaining	Foreign labour	-
2003	Collective bargaining	-	-
2004	Dismissals	Part-time recruitment	-
France
2000	Pay (33%)	Working time (29%)	Working conditions (15%)
2001	Pay (37%)	Job losses (21%)	Working time (15%)
2002	Pay (39%)	Job losses (29%)	Working conditions (21%)
2003	Pay (37%)	Job losses (27%)	Working conditions (20%)
Hungary
2000	Pay	Plant closures	-
2001	Pay	Plant closures	-
2002	Pay	Privatisation	Plant closures
2003	Pay	Plant closures	Job losses
2004	Pay	Privatisation	Job losses
Italy (conflicts connected with the employment relationship only)
2000	'Economic and regulatory' demands (49%)	'Other causes' (eg non-fulfilment of agreements) (12%)	Dismissals (8%)
2001	Renewal of sectoral agreements (60%)	'Economic and regulatory' demands (23%)	'Other causes' (eg non-fulfilment of agreements) (11%)
2002	Renewal of sectoral agreements (35%)	'Economic and regulatory' demands (22%)	'Other causes' (eg non-fulfilment of agreements) (20%)
2003	Renewal of sectoral agreements (56%)	'Economic and regulatory' demands (24%)	'Other causes' (eg non-fulfilment of agreements) (13%)
2004	Renewal of sectoral agreements (40%)	'Economic and regulatory' demands (32%)	'Other causes' (eg non-fulfilment of agreements) (14%)
Latvia
2004	Pay	-	-
Lithuania
2000-4	Pay (including wage arrears)	-	-
Luxembourg
2000	Workplace safety	-	-
2001	-	-	-
2002	-	-	-
2003	Compliance with collective agreement	-	-
2004	Restructuring	-	-
Netherlands
2000	Collective agreements (52%)	Pay and 'other' (48%)	-
2001	Collective agreements (77%)	-	-
2002	Collective agreements (100%)	-	-
2003	'Other' (69%)	-	-
Norway
2000	Collective bargaining	-	-
2001	-	-	-
2002	Collective bargaining	-	-
2003	-	-	-
Poland
2003	Wage arrears	Job losses	-
2004	Wage arrears	Privatisation	-
Portugal
2000	Pay (56.1%)	Working time / conditions (16.9%)	Employment and training (8.0%)
2001	Pay (58.0%)	Working time / conditions (20.9%)	Employment and training (8.0%)
2002	Pay (49.8%)	Working time / conditions (18.7%)	Employment and training (10.4%)
2003	Pay (48.2% )	Working time / conditions (23.2% )	Employment and training (14.2%)
Romania
2000	Pay (48.8%)	Working time (2.4%)	Working conditions (2.4%)
2001	Pay (47.1%)	Working time (3.9%)	Working conditions (11.1%)
2002	Pay (47.7%)	Working time (8.7%)	Working conditions (8.1%)
2003	Pay (55.0%)	Working time (10.0%)	-
2004	Pay (48.1%)	Working time (5.1%)	-
Slovakia
2001	Pay	Employment	-
2002	Labour law reforms	Government social policy and budget	-
2003	Rail restructuring	Overall government policy	-
2004	Transport subsidies	Pay	-
Slovenia (ZSSS member unions)
2000	Wage arrears	'Other'	Unpaid holiday bonuses
2001	Wage arrears	Pay rise demands	Unpaid holiday bonuses / late payment of wages
2002	Wage arrears	'Other'	Late payment of wages / pay not in line with collective agreement
2003	Wage arrears	Pay not in line with collective agreement / 'other'	.
Spain
2000	Not arising from collective bargaining (57%)	Issue not strictly linked to employment relationship (24%)	Arising from collective bargaining (19%)
2001	Not arising from collective bargaining (69%)	Arising from collective bargaining (31%)	-
2002	Issue not strictly linked to employment relationship (88%)	Arising from collective bargaining (6%)	Not arising from collective bargaining (5%)
2003	Arising from collective bargaining (63%)	Not arising from collective bargaining (37%)	-
2004 (first eight months)	Arising from collective bargaining (87%)	Not arising from collective bargaining (12%)	Issue not strictly linked to employment relationship (2%)
Sweden
2000	Pay	Working time	-
2001	Authors' rights (journalism)	Bargaining arrangements	-
2002	-	-	-
2003	Bargaining arrangements	Working environment	Pay
2004	Pay	Working environment	-
UK
2000	Pay (77%)	Redundancy (11%)	Staffing and work allocation (5%)
2001	Working conditions and supervision (33%)	Pay (27%)	Redundancy (17%)
2002	Pay (89%)	Working conditions and supervision (8%)	Redundancy (1%)
2003	Pay (84%)	Working time (13%)	Staffing and work allocation (1%)
2004	Pay (84%)	Redundancy (12%)	Working time (2%)

Source: EIRO. Notes - see table 1 above. * Figures, from DA, relate only to unofficial strikes in main DA/LO private sector bargaining area.

Unsurprisingly, the number one reason for industrial action is undoubtedly pay. It features specifically among the leading issues in all countries but Luxembourg, Finland, Spain - and in the latter two cases (plus the Czech Republic, Italy and Norway) pay can probably be assumed to be involved in many of the collective bargaining disputes which are prominent causes of action. Pay is consistently the leading single issue in industrial action in Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and the UK. While wage increase demands are the main issue under the pay heading, wage arrears are important in countries such as Poland, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

Employment is probably the next most important reason for industrial action (as in Portugal and Slovakia), especially when dismissals (prominent in Denmark and the UK, and to a lesser extent Italy), redundancies and job losses (prominent in the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland) and unemployment (as in Bulgaria) are included in this category. Plant closures and company restructuring, which are important causes in countries such as Hungary and Luxembourg, probably also fall under this broad heading. The next most common reason is broadly 'political' issues, with general or specific (eg social security, labour law reforms, privatisations and sector restructuring) government policies being the main cause of action in Austria and Slovakia and a major one in Bulgaria and Hungary. Unspecified political issues are consistently the third most important cause in Denmark, while political matters presumably make up many of the issues not strictly linked to the employment relationship that are a major grounds for industrial action in Spain . Working time and conditions (prominent to varying degrees in France, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK) come some way behind. Within these overall trends, there are a number of national peculiarities, such as the prominence in some years of the working environment in Sweden or foreign labour in Finland.

Dispute resolution

Most countries examined here have some mechanisms for the resolution of industrial disputes, provided either voluntarily or compulsorily by the state or the social partners themselves. Although definitions vary (and can be blurred), the main forms of dispute resolution are:

• arbitration - whereby a third party makes a binding decision on an issue on which the parties cannot agree;
• mediation - whereby a third party takes an active role (more so than in conciliation), usually making recommendations for the resolution of the dispute; and
• conciliation - whereby a third party merely attempts to bring the parties to a dispute together and helps them reach a mutually acceptable solution.

While most of the 28 countries practice one or more of these forms of dispute resolution, statistics on their use are patchy. Tables 7 to 9 below give the relevant figures on referrals to arbitration, mediation and conciliation for those countries where data are available. Making any kind of cross-border comparison of the statistics in this area is very difficult, given the very different nature of national dispute-resolution mechanisms and the industrial relations systems in which they operate (eg, a company-based bargaining system might be expected to generate many more referrals than a sector-based one). The tables do, however, suggest a number of national trends, such as an increasing use of arbitration in Greece and Ireland, or of mediation in Spain.

For the countries which use more than one form of dispute resolution it appears that: mediation is more commonly used than arbitration in Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia; mediation is more commonly used than conciliation in France; mediation and conciliation are used fairly equally in Estonia; conciliation is more commonly used than arbitration in Ireland ; conciliation is used more often than mediation in Finland; conciliation is more commonly used than arbitration or mediation in Luxembourg and Romania; conciliation is more frequent than mediation, which in turn is more common than arbitration, in Spain; and conciliation is more frequent than arbitration, which in turn is more common than mediation, in the UK. (Mark Carley, SPIRE Associates)

Table 7. Number of disputes referred to arbitration, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Bulgaria	-	-	-	-	2
Cyprus	2	4	1	1	2
Czech Republic	2	1	0	1	2
Denmark	15	20	nd	nd	nd
Greece	nd	40	56	64	66
Hungary	2	1	0	1	1
Ireland	779	884	940	1,020	nd
Luxembourg	0	0	0	0	0
Norway	4	0	3	0	2
Romania	1	1	2	4	nd
Slovakia	0	0	0	1	2
Spain	6	0	4	10	nd
UK	65 settled	62	68	80	60

Source: EIRO.

The figures in table 7 should be read in conjunction with the following notes.

• Bulgaria: figures refer to arbitration by the National Institute for Arbitration and Conciliation (NIAC), which was established by law in 2003; before 2004, voluntary branch and sectoral arbitration and conciliation commissions dealt with 10-30 cases a year.
• Cyprus: figures from Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
• Denmark: figures, from the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), cover only the LO/Danish Employers’ Confederation (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA) bargaining area.
• Greece: figures from Mediation and Arbitration Service (OMED).
• Hungary: figures refer to arbitration by Labour Mediation and Arbitration Service.
• Ireland: figures refer to referrals to the Labour Court
• Norway: figures, from State Mediator's Office, refer to compulsory arbitration.
• Romania: figures from Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family.
• Slovakia: figures from Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.
• Spain: figures refer to arbitration cases referred to the Intersectoral Mediation and Arbitration Service (Servicio Interconfederal de Mediación y Arbitraje, SIMA).
• UK: figures, from Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), refer to cases received, except for 2000 figure, which is for cases settled; 2000 figure is for 1999-2000; 2001 figure is for 2000-1; 2002 figure is for 2001-2; 2003 figure is for 2002-3; 2004 figure is for 2003-4.

Table 8. Number of disputes referred to mediation, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Cyprus	166	236	174	246	250
Czech Republic	19	21	12	22	10
Estonia	19	6	10	8	8
Finland	3	3	3	2	0
France	2,768	2,131	nd	1,479	nd
Hungary	6	5	9	8	11
Luxembourg	0	0	0	0	0
Malta	77	68	102	70	nd
Norway	69	26	125	27	126
Poland	160	102	65	39	nd
Romania	1	1	2	2	1
Slovakia	23	13	18	10	9
Spain	115	125	149	172	nd
Sweden	nd	100	94	72	nd
UK	1	5	nd	nd	6

Source: EIRO; * first five months of year only.

The figures in table 8 should be read in conjunction with the following notes.

• Cyprus: figures from Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
• Estonia: figures from public conciliator's office.
• Finland: figures refer to mediation by trade union and employers’ federations/confederations; 2004 figure is for first half of year only.
• Hungary: figures refer to mediation by Labour Mediation and Arbitration Service.
• Malta: figures refer to intervention by DIER in the settlement of trade disputes; DIER data do not distinguish between mediation and conciliation - the terms are used interchangeably.
• Norway: figures, from State Mediator's Office, refer only to mediation in nationwide disputes.
• Poland: figures from Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy.
• Romania: figures from Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family.
• Slovakia: figures from Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.
• Spain: figures refer to mediation cases referred to SIMA.
• Sweden: figures refer to mediation administered through the National Mediation Office; 2001 figure includes 20 central cases and 80 regional cases, 2002 figure six central cases and 88 regional cases, and 2003 figure six central cases and 66 regional cases.
• UK: figures, from Acas, refer to cases received, except for 2004 figure, which is for cases settled; 2000 figure is for 1999-2000; 2001 figure is for 2000-1; 2004 figure is for 2003-4.

Table 9. Number of disputes referred to conciliation, 2000-4

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Bulgaria	-	-	-	-	1
Estonia	20	15	7	4	12
Finland	50	6	17	18	4
France	1,556	1,089	nd	917	nd
Ireland	1,899 (85% settled)	1,815 (83% settled)	1,693 (81% settled)	1,597 (82% settled)	nd
Luxembourg	7	12	15	6	10
Portugal	90	76	128	137	95
Romania	136	95	112	119	73
Spain	1,070	839	815	784	605
UK	1,500 (1,152 settled or progress towards settlement)	1,284 (1,075 resolved)	1,326 (1,166 resolved)	1,381 (1,241 resolved)	1,271 (1,149 resolved)

Source: EIRO.

The figures in table 9 should be read in conjunction with the following notes.

• Bulgaria: figures refer to conciliation by the National Institute for Arbitration and Conciliation (NIAC), which was established by law in 2003; before 2004, voluntary branch and sectoral arbitration and conciliation commissions dealt with 10-30 cases a year. .
• Estonia: figures from public conciliator's office.
• Finland: figures refer to conciliation by National Conciliator (34 in 2000, one in 2001, four in 2002, 12 in 2003 and one in 2004) and regional conciliators (16 in 2000, five in 2001, 13 in 2002, six in 2003 and three in 2004).
• Ireland: figures refer to conciliation by Labour Relations Commission.
• Portugal: figures from Ministry of Labour and Solidarity.
• Romania: figures from Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family.
• Spain: figures, from MTAS, relate to total collective conciliations concluded at regional and lower levels; 2004 figure is for first nine months only.
• UK: figures from Acas; 2000 figure is for 1999-2000; 2001 figure is for 2000-1; 2002 figure is for 2001-2; 2003 figure is for 2002-3; 2004 figure is for 2003-4.

• ID: TN0506101U
• Author: Mark Carley
• Country: EU Countries
• Language: EN
• Publication date: 07-07-2005