Industrial action on the rise in 2011
Published: 13 June 2012
In March 2012, the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI [1]) within the Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS [2]) published its annual report on industrial action for 2011. The figures in the report are informed estimates based on strike data from trade unions and analysis of media reports.[1] http://www.wsi.de/[2] http://www.boeckler.de/
Data published in March 2012 by the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) show there was significantly more industrial action in Germany in 2011 than in the previous year, with some 180,000 workers taking strike action compared to 120,000 in 2010. Official records of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) published in April differ significantly. Due to incomplete reporting of industrial action to the agency, it reports only 11,000 strikers and some 70,000 days not worked.
Background
In March 2012, the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) within the Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS) published its annual report on industrial action for 2011. The figures in the report are informed estimates based on strike data from trade unions and analysis of media reports.
According to the WSI report, around 180,000 workers took part in industrial action in 2011, a third more than the 120,000 workers involved in 2010. The estimated strike volume was 304,000 days not worked (DNW), roughly 175% of the strike volume in 2010, or 173,000 DNW.
However, unusually low levels of strike activity were recorded in 2010, and this increase is put into more accurate perspective when compared with figures from 2006 to 2008.
The 2011 WSI data differ significantly from official German strike data published in April 2012 by the Federal Employment Agency (BA) recording a total of 11,282 strikers participating in industrial action in 158 establishments in 2011. In 2010, BA recorded 12,936 workers from 132 establishments involved in strikes and one recorded lock-out.
As for days not worked, the BA recorded only 69,896 days not worked in 2011 – just under a quarter of the WSI’s estimate. This figure is, however, two-and-half times higher than the strike volume officially recorded by BA in 2010 (25,917 days not worked).
A similar gap between WSI estimates and the official strike record is evident in every year for which comparable data exist, as detailed in Table 1.
| Year | BA data | WSI estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 50,673 | 126,000 |
| 2005 | 18,633 | 175,000 |
| 2006 | 428,739 | 1,607,000 |
| 2007 | 286,368 | 725,000 |
| 2008 | 131,679 | 542,000 |
| 2009 | 63,708 | 398,000 |
| 2010 | 25,917 | 173,000 |
| 2011 | 69,896 | 304,000 |
Source: Federal Employment Agency (BA); Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI)
The difference between the two methods of estimating the volume of industrial action in Germany is also evident from an examination of the relative strike volume, or days not worked due to strikes and lock-outs, for every 1,000 employees. This is a common indicator used to compare strike activity over time and between countries. The data show that over the five-year period between 2007 and 2011, WSI estimates suggest an annual average of 12 days not worked per 1,000 employees, almost four times that recorded by the BA (Table 2).
| Year | Employees (thousands) | DNW/1,000 employees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WSI estimate | BA data | ||
| 2007 | 35,359 | 20.5 | 8.1 |
| 2008 | 35,866 | 15.1 | 3.7 |
| 2009 | 35,894 | 11.1 | 1.8 |
| 2010 | 36,065 | 4.8 | 0.7 |
| 2011 | 36,549 | 8.3 | 1.9 |
| 2007–2011, annual average | - | 12.0 | 3.2 |
Source: Federal Office for Statistics (Statistisches Bundesamt, destatis); Federal Employment Agency (BA); Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI); author’s 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 increased significantly in 2011. The largest number of disputes took place in the service sector, most notably in private services.
The number of disputes decided by the executive council of the United Services Union (ver.di), which has 2.1 million members, more than quadrupled between 2004 and 2009, rising from 36 to 163. This fell sharply to 107 in 2010, and in 2011 rose to 167.
More women on strike
In recent years strike activity has significantly shifted towards the service sector and in particular to sectors like health care, child care (DE0909019I), industrial cleaning (DE0911029I) and education, and other sectors where a large proportion of workers are women. While overall quantitative data on the gender composition of strikers is not available, there is evidence that the majority of strikers were women in a number of disputes in recent years.
In 2011, the dispute over pay for federal and federal state employees in the public sector involved many thousands of teachers of whom, according to the German Union of Education (GEW), the large majority were women.
Many small scale disputes in 2011
The largest dispute in terms of employee involvement was in the 2011 bargaining round of federal and federal state employees in the public sector. This was accompanied by two waves of warning strikes, each of which involved several tens of thousands of employees.
A protracted dispute involving several thousand journalists at various newspapers ended in August 2011 after more than 12 months of negotiations, and many episodes of industrial action (DE1109019I). The most contested issue in this bargaining round was the employers’ demand for substantial cuts in new entrant’s salaries, which was finally defeated by the unions.
As in previous years, the largest number of strikes occurred in disputes about company level collective agreements, most notably in the service sector. These disputes, which often cover comparatively small numbers of employees, are the result of an ongoing decentralisation and fragmentation of collective bargaining. A strike of 600 workers at printing machine manufacturer Koenig & Bauer (KBA), triggered by the announcement of massive job losses, has alone led to 16,000 strike days.
Problems with official statistics
Employers are obliged to inform BA of 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, number of 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 if the strike or lockout causes the loss of more than 100 working days per establishment, regardless of the number of workers involved or length of time the action lasts. For 2011 the agency released figures for minor strike actions that were not included in the official record because they did not reach these thresholds; a total of 157 establishments, 2,977 strikers and 1,964 days not worked.
These figures show that the reporting threshold does not explain the gap between official records and the WSI’s estimates of strike activity. The two main causes are employers who do not report industrial action, and the failure of local employment agencies to insist on their compliance.
WSI report on strike activity
The WSI report is based on estimates that rely primarily on strike data collected from trade unions. The unions for which the most comprehensive data are available are those affiliated to the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). In those instances where trade unions could not provide data, 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. When estimating the number of strikers, the possibility that official union reports inflate the number of participating workers cannot be ruled out. This is taken into account when calculating days not worked due to warning strikes, since the WSI estimates are based on union data for the number of days for which the union paid strike benefit to members.
Heiner Dribbusch, Institute of Economic and Social Research, WSI
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2012), Industrial action on the rise in 2011, article.
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