Significant decline in industrial action in 2010

Source: Federal Office for Statistics (Statistisches Bundesamt, destatis); Federal Employment Agency (BA); Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI); own calculation

The number of strikes is not officially recorded in Germany and is very difficult to assess. However, there are indicators that the number of strikes did fall in 2010. The largest number of disputes took place in the services sector, most notably in private services. The number of disputes decided by the executive council of the 2.1 million member strong United Services Union (ver.di) was down to 107 in 2010, after more than quadrupling between 2004 and 2009 (from 36 to 163).

In recent years, strike activity has shifted considerably towards the services sector and in particular to sectors with a strong female workforce, such as health care, childcare (DE0909019I), industrial cleaning (DE0911029I) and education. Although quantitative data on the gender composition of strikers is not available, many disputes over the last years involved a large number of women.

No large sectoral disputes in 2010

The 2010 volume of industrial action is the lowest since 2005. A major reason for this was that in 2010 the bargaining parties in the metalworking industry reached an agreement in February without any industrial action (DE1004029I). The 2010 bargaining rounds in the German metalworking and electrical industry were strongly affected by the impact of the economic crisis on the industry.

Unprecedented in its bargaining history, the trade union decided to enter into the bargaining round without having tabled a specific pay demand; instead, the focus was placed on employment and training. Talks between the bargaining parties started long before the current collective agreement was due to expire in April 2010, and were remarkably brief.

The bargaining round in the public sector, affecting some 2.1 million public employees at local and federal level, was only settled following a dispute resolution procedure in February 2010. However, compared to previous bargaining rounds, it was accompanied by comparatively few and relatively small warning strikes involving some 60,000 workers. The 2010 bargaining round in the German steel industry took place amid signs of recovery in the national economy in general and the steel industry in particular. The parties settled after two days of warning strikes involving a total of 17,000 workers (DE1010019I).

As in previous years, the largest number of strikes occurred in disputes about company level collective agreements in the services sector. These disputes were the result of an ongoing decentralisation and fragmentation of collective bargaining. Some of these disputes dragged on for a considerable time. A dispute about a company level agreement at Betonwerk Westerwelle, a company manufacturing concrete parts for the building industry, lasted three months. At MZ-Service, a hospital service company, there were 97 days of strike action before a collective agreement was reached.

Problems with official statistics

Employers are obliged to inform the Federal Employment Agency about the beginning and end of each strike or lockout. Although the number of strikes are not recorded, there is a record of the number of establishments affected, the workers involved and the number of days not worked, which are labelled ‘lost working days’. Strikes and lockouts are only recorded in the official statistics if they involve at least ten employees per establishment and last at least one day or – regardless of the number of workers involved or length of time – if the strike or lockout causes the loss of more than 100 working days per establishment.

For 2010 the agency reported the figures of the minor strike actions that were not included in the official record because they did not reach the threshold. These strikes involved a total of 101 establishments and 2,653 strikers and covered a volume of 1,110 days not worked.

The publication of these figures shows that the problem of the threshold is not the main cause for the gap between official records and estimated strike activity. The main reasons for the deficits are clearly the shortcomings in reporting by employers and also a lack of insistence by local employment agencies that this data should be provided.

In the federal state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, for example, no strike action was recorded for 2009 or 2010, although press reports provide evidence of several strike actions. There is also ample evidence that warning strikes, which have become the dominant form of strike action in Germany, are often not fully reported.

WSI report on strike activity

The WSI report is based on estimates that rely primarily on strike data collected from trade unions. In those instances where trade unions could not provide data, the strike volume was estimated by referring to press reports. The WSI cannot exhaustively cover all instances of strike action in Germany. In particular, small unofficial strikes at company level for which no union claims responsibility are often not recorded or reported. With regard to figures on strikers, it can’t be ruled out that official union reports on strike participation probably inflate the numbers of workers involved. This has been taken into account when estimating days not worked due to warning strikes.

At its core, the WSI estimate of days not worked is based on union data for the number of days for which the union paid strike benefit to members.

Commentary

The WSI expects strike activity will remain at a low level in 2011. In the first months of the year, strike activity was rather limited and there has been no major sectoral dispute. As in previous years, the most bitter and longest conflicts are found in company-level collective bargaining.

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