Sharp rise in strike action during 2006

Dribbusch, Heiner

Overview

Article

Sharp rise in strike action during 2006

Published: 15 July 2007

Each year, employers in Germany are obliged to report strikes and lockouts to the Federal Employment agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA [1]), which publishes an annual overview on this subject. In May 2007, the BA released the annual figures for industrial action in 2006. Strikes and lockouts are only recorded in the official statistics if they involved at least 10 employees per establishment causing at least the loss of one working day or if, regardless of the number of workers involved, the strike or lockout caused the loss of more than 100 working days per establishment. No lockouts were recorded in 2006.[1] http://www.arbeitsagentur.de/

In May 2007, the Federal Employment Agency published the annual figures for 2006 on industrial action in Germany. In that year, 545 establishments were affected by strikes, involving a total number of 168,723 employees. This amounted to 428,739 days not worked. The greatest number of strikers was recorded in the metalworking industry, while more than three quarters of days not worked were caused by long disputes in 2006 in the public sector.

Each year, employers in Germany are obliged to report strikes and lockouts to the Federal Employment agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA), which publishes an annual overview on this subject. In May 2007, the BA released the annual figures for industrial action in 2006. Strikes and lockouts are only recorded in the official statistics if they involved at least 10 employees per establishment causing at least the loss of one working day or if, regardless of the number of workers involved, the strike or lockout caused the loss of more than 100 working days per establishment. No lockouts were recorded in 2006.

In 2006, 545 establishments were affected by strikes, involving a total number of 168,723 employees. This amounted to 428,739 days not worked (DNW). These figures marked a steep increase compared with previous years. In 2005, some 270 establishments were affected by recorded industrial action, involving 17,097 employees and resulting in 18,633 DNW. Thus, the relative strike volume was 12.4 DNW per 1,000 employees in 2006, compared with only 0.5 DNW per 1,000 employees in 2005; in fact, the proportion for 2006 was the highest for more than a decade.

Key sectors involved

The greatest number of workers on strike was recorded in the metalworking industry, largely due to expanded but short warning strikes during the 2006 collective bargaining round (DE0605039I). At the same time, more than three quarters of DNW were caused by protracted disputes in the public sector (DE0606029I) (see Table 1).

**Table 1: Distribution of workers on strike and DNW, by sector, 2006 (%)**
Table 1 shows the distribution of workers on strike and days not worked due to industrial action, by the most relevant sectors in 2006 (as % of total)
	Strikers (% of total)	DNW (% of total)
Public sector including healthcare	12	77
Metalworking industry	79	17
All other sectors	9	6
Total	100	100

Source: Arbeitsmarkt in Zahlen: Streikstatistik 2006, BA, 2007; own calculation

A substantial number of disputes arose as a result of employer demands to extend working time, such as in the public sector, or following announcements to close or relocate sites. The most notable example of the latter situation was the six-week strike at the AEG manufacturing site of Electrolux in Nuremberg, which resulted in a collective agreement regulating the conditions under which the plant will be closed at the end of 2007 (DE0603039I).

During 2006, a strike was called by Marburger Bund (MB), an occupational trade union representing medical doctors, which had opted out of a framework collective agreement concluded for the public sector in 2005 in order to negotiate a separate collective agreement for medical doctors (DE0607019I). Industrial relations in the healthcare sector have become more adversarial, largely due to the pressures resulting from privatisation and cost-cutting measures.

The dispute at the university hospitals marks the first major strike action by medical doctors in post-war Germany. Nurses and other hospital staff also engaged in industrial action during the disputes that took place in 2006 in the public service (DE0605019I).

Low strike volume by international standards

Although 2006 was a year of major industrial conflict by German standards, the country reports on average a low volume of industrial action compared with other European countries (Table 2).

**Table 2: DNW due to strike and lockout per 1,000 employees, by country, 1996–2005 (annual average)**
Table 2 shows the annual average number of days not worked due to strike or lockout per 1,000 employees, by country, 1996–2005
Country	DNW by 1,000 employees (annual average)
Denmark	157.4
Spain	144.9
Italy	86.8
Norway	79.8
Turkey	79.8
France	71.5
Finland	62.2
Ireland	58.8
Romania	55.8
Austria	40.5
Portugal	25.7
UK	23.6
Sweden	20.1
Hungary	15.8
Netherlands	7.8
Poland	3.6
Switzerland	3.1
Germany	2.4

Source: Eurostat; own calculation

Heiner Dribbusch, Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI)

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2007), Sharp rise in strike action during 2006, article.