Industrial Disputes, Australia

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The number of disputes (strikes or lockouts), employees involved and working days lost; cause of dispute; duration; and the reason work resumed

Reference period

March 2022

Released

9/06/2022

View all releases

Key statistics

In the March quarter 2022:

30 disputes occurred.
11,400 employees were involved and 19,600 working days lost.
disputes occurred in 8 industries and in 6 states and territories.

During the year ended March 2022, there were 134 disputes and a total of 117,000 working days lost.

		December Quarter 2021	March Quarter 2022	March Quarter 2021	March Quarter 2022
		Quarter		Year ended
Number of disputes
	Commenced in period (no.)	37	22	76	128
	Total (no.)	55	30	79	134
Employees involved
	Newly involved ('000)	50.6	10.1	9.6	78.4
	Total ('000)	57.2	11.4	9.8	78.9
Working days lost ('000)		68.5	19.6	48.8	117.0

Overview

In the March quarter 2022, there were:

30 disputes, 25 less than from the previous quarter.
11,400 employees involved, a decrease from 57,200 in the previous quarter.
19,600 working days lost, a decrease from 68,500 in the previous quarter.

Year ended estimates:

134 disputes occurred, 55 more than in the previous year.
117,000 working days were lost, 68,200 more than the previous year.

Industrial disputes which occurred during the quarter
	Number of disputes		Employees involved
	Commenced in period	Total	Newly involved	Total	Working days lost
	no.	no.	'000	'000	'000
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
December Quarter 2021	37	55	50.6	57.2	68.5
March Quarter 2022	22	30	10.1	11.4	19.6

Long-term trends

The level of industrial disputation over recent years is considerably lower than in the 1980's and prior decades.

Industrial disputes in the last 10 years, Australia
	Working days Lost ('000)	Total Employees Involved ('000)	Total Number of Disputes
Mar-12	35.8	6.7	43
Jun-12	101.7	70	53
Sep-12	110	55.8	68
Dec-12	25.7	27.3	58
Mar-13	52.1	46.9	55
Jun-13	19.8	10.9	61
Sep-13	23	19.7	65
Dec-13	36.1	57.3	58
Mar-14	9.7	5.7	37
Jun-14	20.2	19.9	60
Sep-14	24.6	18.9	55
Dec-14	16.9	19.8	57
Mar-15	20.4	14.6	46
Jun-15	14.8	17.8	59
Sep-15	29.1	29.8	78
Dec-15	19.1	20.3	72
Mar-16	27.9	23.9	80
Jun-16	24.5	20.5	60
Sep-16	34.9	26.3	93
Dec-16	37.2	37.5	48
Mar-17	25.6	22.7	32
Jun-17	40.2	27.8	49
Sep-17	45.9	8.1	57
Dec-17	36.7	17.1	67
Mar-18	14.9	4	24
Jun-18	12.5	14.6	48
Sep-18	47.4	13.8	51
Dec-18	30.9	28.8	62
Mar-19	16.6	9.3	44
Jun-19	17.6	20.2	44
Sep-19	17.8	17.5	43
Dec-19	12.4	8.8	38
Mar-20	3.9	4	23
Jun-20	1.5	1.1	11
Sep-20	11.7	4.3	21
Dec-20	16.5	2.6	32
Mar-21	19.2	2.7	24
Jun-21	10.4	6.4	36
Sep-21	18.5	13.3	50
Dec-21	68.5	57.2	55
Mar-22	19.6	11.4	30

Industrial disputes in the last 10 years, Australia

["","Working days Lost ('000)","Total Employees Involved ('000)","Total Number of Disputes"]

[["Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22"],[[35.799999999999997],[101.7],[110],[25.699999999999999],[52.100000000000001],[19.800000000000001],[23],[36.100000000000001],[9.6999999999999993],[20.199999999999999],[24.600000000000001],[16.899999999999999],[20.399999999999999],[14.800000000000001],[29.100000000000001],[19.100000000000001],[27.899999999999999],[24.5],[34.899999999999999],[37.200000000000003],[25.600000000000001],[40.200000000000003],[45.899999999999999],[36.700000000000003],[14.9],[12.5],[47.399999999999999],[30.899999999999999],[16.600000000000001],[17.600000000000001],[17.800000000000001],[12.4],[3.8999999999999999],[1.5],[11.699999999999999],[16.5],[19.199999999999999],[10.4],[18.5],[68.5],[19.600000000000001]],[[6.7000000000000002],[70],[55.799999999999997],[27.300000000000001],[46.899999999999999],[10.9],[19.699999999999999],[57.299999999999997],[5.7000000000000002],[19.899999999999999],[18.899999999999999],[19.800000000000001],[14.6],[17.800000000000001],[29.800000000000001],[20.300000000000001],[23.899999999999999],[20.5],[26.300000000000001],[37.5],[22.699999999999999],[27.800000000000001],[8.0999999999999996],[17.100000000000001],[4],[14.6],[13.800000000000001],[28.800000000000001],[9.3000000000000007],[20.199999999999999],[17.5],[8.8000000000000007],[4],[1.1000000000000001],[4.2999999999999998],[2.6000000000000001],[2.7000000000000002],[6.4000000000000004],[13.300000000000001],[57.200000000000003],[11.4]],[[43],[53],[68],[58],[55],[61],[65],[58],[37],[60],[55],[57],[46],[59],[78],[72],[80],[60],[93],[48],[32],[49],[57],[67],[24],[48],[51],[62],[44],[44],[43],[38],[23],[11],[21],[32],[24],[36],[50],[55],[30]]]

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Industrial disputes historical series, Australia
	Working days Lost ('000)	Total Employees Involved ('000)	Total Number of Disputes
Mar-85	333.1	132.2	445
Jun-85	202.1	122.5	400
Sep-85	349.4	170.9	605
Dec-85	371.6	163.6	508
Mar-86	199.3	67.8	379
Jun-86	526.3	319.3	483
Sep-86	289.9	162.3	491
Dec-86	375.2	155.5	456
Mar-87	184.2	85.8	366
Jun-87	277.6	183.1	418
Sep-87	519.3	151.1	383
Dec-87	330.8	185.3	409
Mar-88	214.5	91.3	393
Jun-88	625.9	442.5	420
Sep-88	540.3	333.6	358
Dec-88	260.7	108.1	372
Mar-89	170.1	89.7	383
Jun-89	313.6	149.1	386
Sep-89	475	334.9	363
Dec-89	243.6	157	309
Mar-90	162	84.6	294
Jun-90	301.1	208.3	295
Sep-90	341.2	304.1	336
Dec-90	572.2	317.1	309
Mar-91	97.5	85	285
Jun-91	563	334.6	304
Sep-91	340.2	343.8	302
Dec-91	609.8	589.1	187
Mar-92	66.1	52.5	207
Jun-92	154.2	85.2	213
Sep-92	51.6	43.1	181
Dec-92	669.2	695.2	164
Mar-93	196.4	180.4	156
Jun-93	98.4	83.7	164
Sep-93	202.2	130.1	168
Dec-93	138.7	123.2	147
Mar-94	112.5	37.3	112
Jun-94	77.5	44.4	131
Sep-94	102.9	66.7	159
Dec-94	208.7	132.1	175
Mar-95	111.3	74.4	170
Jun-95	156.8	86.6	170
Sep-95	120.1	67.6	180
Dec-95	159.4	135.8	155
Mar-96	153	108.8	134
Jun-96	368.1	224	149
Sep-96	304.3	285.9	126
Dec-96	103.3	78.4	156
Mar-97	88.4	56.7	97
Jun-97	144	91	126
Sep-97	125.2	55.8	125
Dec-97	176.6	115.2	112
Mar-98	98.3	48.4	107
Jun-98	191.8	141.5	103
Sep-98	126.3	76.5	158
Dec-98	110	90.1	175
Mar-99	102	62.9	162
Jun-99	74	51.3	180
Sep-99	243.1	265.1	230
Dec-99	231.6	118.1	192
Mar-00	146.1	105.5	201
Jun-00	173.3	129.2	192
Sep-00	86.2	64.1	194
Dec-00	63.5	38.9	170
Mar-01	70.3	37.5	204
Jun-01	129.5	99	173
Sep-01	111.1	52.5	195
Dec-01	82.2	43.4	156
Mar-02	72.7	46.6	179
Jun-02	63.4	41.4	205
Sep-02	53.4	40.9	240
Dec-02	69.6	41.1	198
Mar-03	66.3	30.1	162
Jun-03	55.5	29.7	141
Sep-03	166.2	107.9	193
Dec-03	151.5	116.3	187
Mar-04	80.4	45.2	187
Jun-04	154.2	65	190
Sep-04	93.3	56.2	194
Dec-04	51.9	33.6	149
Mar-05	45.1	20.8	119
Jun-05	52.8	53.4	138
Sep-05	49.3	68.4	150
Dec-05	81	102.6	96
Mar-06	30.1	19	101
Jun-06	28.2	37.7	24
Sep-06	20.2	6.6	44
Dec-06	54.2	60.6	50
Mar-07	6.9	3.6	33
Jun-07	7.1	4.5	32
Sep-07	11.3	5.9	45
Dec-07	24.4	23.7	36
Mar-08	42.8	42.3	39
Jun-08	86.5	69	60
Sep-08	36.2	60.5	56
Dec-08	31.1	62.9	43
Mar-09	11.6	8.4	48
Jun-09	47.3	43.9	58
Sep-09	29.1	18	72
Dec-09	44.7	27	81
Mar-10	28.8	13.2	54
Jun-10	24	13.9	56
Sep-10	46.6	16	72
Dec-10	27.2	17	70
Mar-11	19.7	11.1	37
Jun-11	66.2	14.7	53
Sep-11	101.3	66.4	66
Dec-11	54.3	51.6	74
Mar-12	35.8	6.7	43
Jun-12	101.7	70	53
Sep-12	110	55.8	68
Dec-12	25.7	27.3	58
Mar-13	52.1	46.9	55
Jun-13	19.8	10.9	61
Sep-13	23	19.7	65
Dec-13	36.1	57.3	58
Mar-14	9.7	5.7	37
Jun-14	20.2	19.9	60
Sep-14	24.6	18.9	55
Dec-14	16.9	19.8	57
Mar-15	20.4	14.6	46
Jun-15	14.8	17.8	59
Sep-15	29.1	29.8	78
Dec-15	19.1	20.3	72
Mar-16	27.9	23.9	80
Jun-16	24.5	20.5	60
Sep-16	34.9	26.3	93
Dec-16	37.2	37.5	48
Mar-17	25.6	22.7	32
Jun-17	40.2	27.8	49
Sep-17	45.9	8.1	57
Dec-17	36.7	17.1	67
Mar-18	14.9	4	24
Jun-18	12.5	14.6	48
Sep-18	47.4	13.8	51
Dec-18	30.9	28.8	62
Mar-19	16.6	9.3	44
Jun-19	17.6	20.2	44
Sep-19	17.8	17.5	43
Dec-19	12.4	8.8	38
Mar-20	3.9	4	23
Jun-20	1.5	1.1	11
Sep-20	11.7	4.3	21
Dec-20	16.5	2.6	32
Mar-21	19.2	2.7	24
Jun-21	10.4	6.4	36
Sep-21	18.5	13.3	50
Dec-21	68.5	57.2	55
Mar-22	19.6	11.4	30

Industrial disputes historical series, Australia

["","Working days Lost ('000)","Total Employees Involved ('000)","Total Number of Disputes"]

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Industry

In the March quarter, disputes occurred in eight industries. More than two in five (42%) working days lost were in the Education and training; Health care and social assistance industry.

Industrial disputes which occurred during the quarter, industry
		December Quarter 2021		March Quarter 2022
		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	1.2	29.3	np	np
	Other mining	-	0.2	0.2	0.7
Manufacturing
	Metal product etc (a)	2.5	8.0	np	np
	Other manufacturing	4.2	8.4	1.8	3.8
Construction		1.1	1.2	1.6	1.7
Transport, postal and warehousing		11.4	19.8	0.8	1.4
Education and training; Health care and social assistance		44.0	15.5	8.2	2.8
Other industries (a)		4.0	0.6	6.6	1.0
All industries		68.5	5.7	19.6	1.6

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
a. See Glossary - Industry - for details of industries included.
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

States and territories

Disputes occurred in six states and territories in the March quarter, with three in five (60%) working days lost occurring in New South Wales.

Industrial disputes which occurred during the quarter, states and territories
	December Quarter 2021		March Quarter 2022
	Working days lost	Working days lost per thousand employees	Working days lost	Working days lost per thousand employees
	'000	no.	'000	no.
NSW	52.1	14	11.7	3.1
Vic.	7.8	2.5	np	np
Qld	3.8	1.6	2.9	1.2
SA	2.0	2.4	1.5	1.8
WA	2.3	1.8	np	np
Tas.	0.2	0.7	-	-
NT	-	-	-	-
ACT	0.3	1.5	-	-
Australia	68.5	5.7	19.6	1.6

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

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 94% of disputes (44 of 47) which ended in the December quarter 2021.

Cause of disputes which ended during the quarter
		September Quarter 2021			December 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	7	0.2	0.8	11	np	np
	Employment conditions (EB)	18	4.6	7.0	31	8.5	27.3
	Other EB related	-	-	-	2	0.1	0.1
Non-EB related
	Remuneration	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Employment conditions	1	0.7	0.5	1	np	np
	Health and safety	5	0.7	0.9	1	1.0	1.0
	Job security	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Managerial policy	-	-	-	1	44.0	44.1
	Union issues	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Other Non EB related	1	0.9	0.5	-	-	-
Total		32	7.2	9.6	47	54.5	76.1

- 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 47 disputes which ended in the December quarter, 12 lasted for 10 days and over. These disputes had:

700 total employees involved; and
12,400 working days lost.

Working days lost for disputes which ended during the quarter
	September Quarter 2021			December 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	17	5.9	4.6	12	1.9	1.7
Over 1 day and up to including 2 days	5	0.2	0.3	12	47.4	48.5
Over 2 and less than 5 days	6	0.9	2.5	9	4.4	13.0
5 and less than 10 days	4	0.3	2.3	2	0.1	0.6
10 days and over	-	-	-	12	0.7	12.4
Total	32	7.2	9.6	47	54.5	76.1

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

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.

There was a pre-determined return to work for 72% of disputes (34 of 47) which ended in the December quarter 2021.

Reason work resumed for disputes which ended during the quarter
	September Quarter 2021			December 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	4	0.3	1.1	8	0.9	8.5
State legislation	-	-	-	-	-	-
Federal legislation	-	-	-	1	np	np
Pre-determined return to work	24	4.9	7.2	34	52.1	66.2
Resumption without negotiation	4	2.1	1.3	1	1.0	1.0
Mediation	-	-	-	3	np	np
Other reasons	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	32	7.2	9.6	47	54.5	76.1

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Data downloads

Download all (477.52 KB)

Time Series Spreadsheets

Data files

Table 1: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period
Download xlsx [58.65 KB]
Table 2a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, industry
Download xlsx [53.31 KB]
Table 2b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, industry
Download xlsx [53.04 KB]
Table 3a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, states and territories
Download xlsx [63.27 KB]
Table 3b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, states and territories
Download xlsx [62.03 KB]
Table 4a: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, cause of dispute
Download xlsx [90.77 KB]
Table 4b: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, working days lost per employee involved
Download xlsx [62.59 KB]
Table 4c: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, reason work resumed
Download xlsx [77.34 KB]

ABS website changes

Update to thematic grouping and navigation on the ABS website

Labour themes and navigation on the ABS website have changed

The thematic groupings and navigation for labour statistics on the ABS website have been updated 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 changes were implemented on the ABS website on Friday 25 March 2022.

The new themes are:

Employment and unemployment
Jobs
Earnings and working conditions
Labour Accounts

Industrial Disputes statistics moved from the 'Earnings and work hours' theme (abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-work-hours/) to the renamed 'Earnings and working conditions' theme (abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/).

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6321.0.55.001.

Methodology

Industrial Disputes, Australia methodology, March 2022

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APA

Citation

Industrial Disputes, Australia

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Overview

Long-term trends

Industry

States and territories

Cause of dispute

Working days lost

Reason work resumed

Data downloads

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

ABS website changes

Update to thematic grouping and navigation on the ABS website

Labour themes and navigation on the ABS website have changed

The new themes are:

Inquiries

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

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