§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has as to the number of days lost in the United Kingdom and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries by industrial action in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Nicholls[holding answer 3 May 1989]: The available information on working days lost from industrial stoppages, expressed as a ratio per thousand employees is shown in the table. The information covers OECD countries for 1987, the latest year for which comparative data is available. Comparisons between countries should be made with considerable care because of the different coverage of each country's statistics. Countries use different criteria for the exclusion of small stoppages from the statistics; public sector strikes are excluded in some cases, and some countries exclude workers prevented from working because others at their workplace are on strike. Further details are given in the article "International 241W comparisons of industrial stoppages for 1986" published in the Employment Gazette, June 1988, page 335, a copy of which is in the Library.
Industrial stoppages working days lost per thousand employees' in all industries and services 1987 Days United Kingdom 160 Australia 220 Austria 2— Canada 370 Denmark 60 Finland 60 France3 30 Germany (Federal Republic) 2— Greece 970 Ireland 320 Italy 320 Japan 10 Netherlands 10 New Zealand' 270 Norway 10 Portugal 40 Spain 630 Sweden — Switzerland — United States3 40 1 Employees in employment: some figures have been estimated. 2 Less than five days lost per thousand employees. 3 Significant coverage differences, the most important of which are: France and New Zealand exclude public sector strikes; New Zealand figures are for strikes of more than 10 working days duration; United States figures exclude disputes where less than 1,000 workers involved. Sources:
Working days lost: International Labour Office (ILO) Yearbook of Labour Statistics 1988. Employees in employment: ILO and OECD publications.
Information is not available for Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and Turkey.