§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of strikes involving 5,000 or more workers in each year since 1945 ; what was the number of working days lost for the same period in thousands ; and if he will make a statement on the latest figures.
§ Mr. MayhewThe available statistics are shown below. The high total of working days lost in 1979 includes 16 million days lost in the engineers' strike last autumn and 3 million by local government and health service staff from disputes in the spring.
STOPPAGES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM INVOLVING 5,000 OR MORE WORKERS* Number of stoppages Number of working days lost (000s) 1950 7 573 1951 8 516 1952 8 753 1953 5 1,352 1954 9 1,488 1955 9 2,369 1956 13 972 1957 8 7,175 1958 8 1,905 1959 13 3,773 1960 16 898 1961 14 993 1962 21 4,196 1963 12 787 1964 18 380 1965 23 1,055 1966 9 1,024 1967 17 802 1968 15 1,867 1969 32 3,053 1970 45 4,997 1971 31 9,976 1972 36 16,834 1973 46 2,654 1974 50 9,121 1975 18 1,094 1976 13 485 1977 21 3,843 1978 24 3,980 1979 33 23,000† * Comparable statistics for the years 1945–49 are not available. † Provisional estimate.