Quarter | Year ended | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 2021 | September 2021 | September 2020 | September 2021 | ||
Number of disputes | |||||
Commenced in period (no.) | 30 | 39 | 78 | 118 | |
Total (no.) | 36 | 50 | 82 | 123 | |
Employees involved | |||||
Newly involved ('000) | 6.0 | 11.7 | 16.3 | 22.2 | |
Total ('000) | 6.4 | 13.3 | 16.9 | 22.6 | |
Working days lost ('000) | 10.4 | 18.5 | 29.5 | 64.6 |
Industrial Disputes, Australia
The number of disputes (strikes or lockouts), employees involved and working days lost; cause of dispute; duration; and the reason work resumed
Key statistics
In the September quarter 2021:
- 50 disputes occurred.
- 13,300 employees were involved and 18,500 working days lost.
- disputes occurred in 6 industries and in 7 states and territories.
During the year ended September 2021, there were 123 disputes and a total of 64,600 working days lost.
Overview
In the September quarter 2021, there were:
- 50 disputes, 14 more than from the previous quarter.
- 13,300 employees involved, an increase from 6,400 in the previous quarter.
- 18,500 working days lost, an increase from 10,400 in the previous quarter.
Year ended estimates:
- 123 disputes occurred, 41 more than in the previous year.
- 64,600 working days were lost, 119% more than the previous year.
Number of disputes | Employees involved | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commenced in period | Total | Newly involved | Total | Working days lost | |
no. | no. | '000 | '000 | '000 | |
September Quarter 2019 | 35 | 43 | 16.8 | 17.5 | 17.8 |
December Quarter 2019 | 34 | 38 | 8.3 | 8.8 | 12.4 |
March Quarter 2020 | 17 | 23 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
June Quarter 2020 | 8 | 11 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
September Quarter 2020 | 19 | 21 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 11.7 |
December Quarter 2020 | 27 | 32 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 16.5 |
March Quarter 2021 | 22 | 24 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 19.2 |
June Quarter 2021 | 30 | 36 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 10.4 |
September Quarter 2021 | 39 | 50 | 11.7 | 13.3 | 18.5 |
Long-term trends
The level of industrial disputation over recent years is considerably lower than in the 1980's and prior decades.
Industry
In the September quarter, disputes occurred in six industries. Nearly five in ten (47%) working days lost were in the Transport, postal and warehousing industry.
June Quarter 2021 | September Quarter 2021 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Working days lost | Working days lost per thousand employees | Working days lost | Working days lost per thousand employees | ||
'000 | no. | '000 | no. | ||
Mining | |||||
Coal mining | 0.7 | 15.2 | - | - | |
Other mining | - | - | - | - | |
Manufacturing | |||||
Metal product etc (a) | 1.0 | 3.1 | 1.8 | 5.1 | |
Other manufacturing | 1.9 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 2.5 | |
Construction | r2.2 | r2.4 | 3.3 | 3.8 | |
Transport, postal and warehousing | r1.3 | r2.3 | 8.7 | 15.8 | |
Education and training; Health care and social assistance | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | - | |
Other industries (a) | 3.2 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 0.5 | |
All industries | 10.4 | 0.9 | 18.5 | 1.6 |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
a. See Glossary - Industry - for details of industries included.
r revised
States and territories
Disputes occurred in seven states and territories in the September quarter, with one in four (25%) working days lost occurring in Western Australia.
June Quarter 2021 | September Quarter 2021 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Working days lost | Working days lost per thousand employees | Working days lost | Working days lost per thousand employees | ||
'000 | no. | '000 | no. | ||
NSW | 2.5 | 0.7 | 4.0 | 1.1 | |
Vic. | 1.2 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 1.0 | |
Qld | 1.7 | 0.7 | 4.0 | 1.7 | |
SA | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | |
WA | 4.0 | 3.1 | 4.7 | 3.6 | |
Tas. | - | - | 1.4 | 6.0 | |
NT | - | - | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
ACT | - | - | - | - | |
Australia | 10.4 | 0.9 | 18.5 | 1.6 |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
Cause of dispute
Most industrial disputes are Enterprise Bargaining (EB) related. Over the past 10 years, disputes over employment conditions have generally been the most prevalent.
EB related issues were the cause of 88% of disputes (22 of 25) which ended in the June quarter 2021.
March Quarter 2021 | June Quarter 2021 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | ||
no. | '000 | '000 | no. | '000 | '000 | ||
Enterprise Bargaining (EB) related | |||||||
Remuneration | 2 | np | np | 8 | 0.4 | 1.8 | |
Employment conditions (EB) | 7 | 0.7 | 24.9 | 13 | 1.8 | 8.1 | |
Other EB related | - | - | - | 1 | - | 0.1 | |
Non-EB related | |||||||
Remuneration | 1 | np | np | - | - | - | |
Employment conditions | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Health and safety | 4 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | |
Job security | 1 | np | np | - | - | - | |
Managerial policy | 2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | - | - | - | |
Union issues | 1 | np | np | - | - | - | |
Other Non EB related | - | - | - | 1 | 1.0 | 0.8 | |
Total | 18 | 2.3 | 26.8 | 25 | 3.8 | 11.2 | |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
Working days lost
Working days lost is a measure of the length of a dispute, relative to the number of employees involved.
Of the 25 disputes which ended in the June quarter, 17 lasted for 2 days or less.
March Quarter 2021 | June Quarter 2021 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | ||
no. | '000 | '000 | no. | '000 | '000 | ||
Up to and including 1 day | 7 | np | np | 13 | 2.4 | 1.7 | |
Over 1 day and up to including 2 days | 6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | |
Over 2 and less than 5 days | 2 | np | np | 3 | 0.8 | 2.7 | |
5 and less than 10 days | 2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 2 | 0.4 | 3.0 | |
10 days and over | 1 | 0.4 | 23.8 | 3 | 0.2 | 3.5 | |
Total | 18 | 2.3 | 26.8 | 25 | 3.8 | 11.2 | |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
Reason work resumed
The reason work resumed relates to the last day of action taken. Resumption of work can occur without resolution to the issues that triggered the dispute.
Negotiation without intervention of a third party and Pre-determined return to work each accounted for 88% of disputes (22 of 25) which ended in the June quarter 2021.
March Quarter 2021 | June Quarter 2021 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | Total Number of Disputes | Total Employees Involved | Working days Lost | ||
no. | '000 | '000 | no. | '000 | '000 | ||
Negotiation without intervention of a third party | 6 | 1 | 24.4 | 6 | 0.4 | 3.1 | |
State legislation | - | - | - | 1 | np | np | |
Federal legislation | 4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | - | - | - | |
Pre-determined return to work | 6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 16 | 3.2 | 6.6 | |
Resumption without negotiation | 1 | - | - | 1 | np | np | |
Mediation | 1 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1.4 | |
Other reasons | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Total | 18 | 2.3 | 26.8 | 25 | 3.8 | 11.2 |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
Data downloads
In line with updating to more recent technology formats, ABS will be progressively transitioning to Excel files in .XLSX format from 3 December 2021. This means the time series spreadsheets in Industrial Disputes, Australia, will be upgraded from the current .XLS to now be released in .XLSX. While this change will improve usability, it may also require changes to automated macros or similar programs that users may have in place that call on the current file extension format.
This change will take effect from the December quarter 2021 Industrial Disputes, Australia, to be released in March 2022. The file format for previously released data will not change.
Revisions
Revisions have been made to the June quarter 2021 data by industry, including the number of working days lost and working days lost per thousand employees in the Construction and Transport, postal and warehousing industries. These revisions are reflected in Table 2 and the associated time series spreadsheets.
Time Series Spreadsheets
Table 1: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period
Table 2a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, industry
Table 2b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, industry
Table 3a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, states and territories
Table 3b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, states and territories
Table 4a: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, cause of dispute
Table 4b: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, working days lost per employee involved
Table 4c: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, reason work resumed
Upcoming changes
Thematic grouping and navigation for labour statistics on the ABS website
Labour statistics have traditionally been organised into two thematic groupings on the ABS website: 'Employment and unemployment'; and 'Earnings and work hours'. The ABS is planning to update these themes to better reflect the current range of available labour statistics, better align key labour market concepts with website themes and navigation, and improve discoverability. The planned new themes are:
- Employment and unemployment
- Jobs
- Earnings and working conditions
- Labour accounts
These new thematic groupings and navigation (and the statistical releases which will appear under each theme) can be viewed on our Beta website, at beta.abs.gov.au.
The Industrial Disputes publication will be included within the 'Earnings and working conditions' grouping.
The key changes include:
- addition of a 'Jobs' theme - to reflect the increasing range of jobs-related data ABS is releasing - including Weekly payroll jobs and wages and Jobs in Australia (currently in 'Earnings and work hours'), in addition to the longstanding statistics on Job vacancies and Job mobility (currently in 'Employment and unemployment').
- addition of a 'Labour accounts' theme - for cross-cutting quarterly and annual labour account data on jobs, people, hours and payments (currently in 'Employment and unemployment').
- renaming the 'Earnings and work hours' theme to 'Earnings and working conditions' - to provide a clearer pathway the large range of information available on working conditions beyond wages (work arrangements, flexibility, workplace relations, etc) and reflect that key hours data are available from the 'Employment and unemployment' theme (from the monthly Labour Force Survey) and the Labour account.
The changes are expected to be implemented in the first half of 2022. While implementation of these changes will result in a change to the placement of some statistical releases, and their respective URL's, there will be automatic redirects put in place. These redirects will ensure that existing URL's and bookmarks will continue to work.
If you have any feedback or questions on this new approach, please email us at labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.
Inquiries
For inquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.
Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 6321.0.55.001.