Industrial Stoppages

HC Deb 06 December 1983 vol 50 c124W

50. Mr. Gregory

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the trends in industrial stoppages in British industry.

Mr. Gummer

Both the number of stoppages in recent years and the number of working days lost through industrial disputes have, on the whole, been coming down. In 1981 and 1982, the number of working days lost was 4.3 million and 5.3 million respectively, compared with an annual average of nearly 13 million in the previous decade. In the first 10 months of this year, 3.1 million^* days were lost compared with 5.0 million in the same period last year and an average of 10.9 million over the first 10 months of the decade 1972–1981.

These figures are encouraging and they surely reflect the wider awareness on the shop floor of the need to remain competitive if jobs are to be maintained or to grow. ^* provisional figure.