Latest release

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

Reference period

September 2020

Released

3/12/2020

Next release 11/03/2021

Key statistics

In the September quarter 2020:

21 disputes occurred.
4,300 employees were involved and 11,700 working days lost.
disputes occurred in 4 industries and in 6 states.

During the year ended September 2020, there were 82 disputes and a total of 29,500 working days lost.

Main features

Quarterly estimates

21 disputes occurred, 10 more than from the previous quarter.
4,300 employees were involved, an increase from 1,100 in the previous quarter.
11,700 working days were lost, an increase from 1,500 in the previous quarter.
More than eight in ten (81%) working days lost were in the Transport, postal and warehousing industry.
More than five in ten (52%) working days lost were in New South Wales.

Year ended estimates

82 disputes occurred, 81 less than in the previous year.
29,500 working days were lost, 64% less than the previous year.

		Quarter		Year ended
		June 2020	September 2020	September 2019	September 2020
Number of disputes
	Commenced in period (no.)	8	19	154	78
	Total (no.)	11	21	163	82
Employees involved
	Newly involved ('000)	0.9	4.2	69	16.3
	Total ('000)	1.1	4.3	72.2	16.9
Working days lost ('000)		1.5	11.7	82.9	29.5

Working days lost, Australia
	Working days lost ('000)
Sep-15	29.1
Dec-15	19.1
Mar-16	27.9
Jun-16	24.5
Sep-16	34.9
Dec-16	37.2
Mar-17	25.6
Jun-17	40.2
Sep-17	45.9
Dec-17	36.7
Mar-18	14.9
Jun-18	12.5
Sep-18	47.4
Dec-18	30.9
Mar-19	16.6
Jun-19	17.6
Sep-19	17.8
Dec-19	12.4
Mar-20	3.9
Jun-20	1.5
Sep-20	11.7

["","Working days lost ('000)"]

[["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"],[[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]]]

[]

Tables

1 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
September Quarter 2018	44	51	13.6	13.8	47.4
December Quarter 2018	53	62	25.6	28.8	30.9
March Quarter 2019	32	44	7.8	9.3	16.6
June Quarter 2019	34	44	18.8	20.2	17.6
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

2 Industrial disputes which occurred during the quarter, industry
		June Quarter 2020		September Quarter 2020
		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	-	-	-	-
	Other mining	-	-	-	-
Manufacturing
	Metal product etc(a)	-	-	-	-
	Other manufacturing	0.6	1.2	1.4	2.8
Construction		np	np	0.7	0.8
Transport, postal and warehousing		0.8	1.6	9.5	17.7
Education and training; Health care and social assistance		np	np	-	-
Other industries(a)		-	-	0.1	-
All industries		1.5	0.1	11.7	1.0

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

3 Industrial disputes which occurred during the quarter, states and territories
	June Quarter 2020		September Quarter 2020
	Working days lost	Working days lost per thousand employees	Working days lost	Working days lost per thousand employees
	'000	no.	'000	no.
NSW	np	np	6.0	1.7
Vic.	1.0	0.4	3.6	1.2
Qld	np	np	1.4	0.6
SA	-	-	np	np
WA	-	-	np	np
Tas.	-	-	np	np
NT	-	-	-	-
ACT	-	-	-	-
Australia	1.5	0.1	11.7	1.0

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

4 Industrial disputes which ended during the quarter
		March Quarter 2020			June Quarter 2020
		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
			CAUSE OF DISPUTE
Enterprise Bargaining (EB) related
	Remuneration	4	0.2	0.3	-	-	-
	Employment conditions (EB)	12	3.4	3.6	3	0.4	2.7
	Other EB related	-	-	-	-	-	-
Non-EB related
	Remuneration	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Employment conditions	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Health and safety	3	0.2	0.1	3	np	np
	Job security	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Managerial policy	1	0.1	0.1	1	0.1	-
	Union issues	-	-	-	2	np	np
	Other Non EB related	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total		20	3.8	4.1	9	1.1	3.3
			WORKING DAYS LOST PER EMPLOYEE INVOLVED
Up to and including 1 day		13	3.3	2.7	6	np	np
Over 1 day and up to including 2 days		4	0.4	0.6	-	-	-
Over 2 and less than 5 days		1	np	np	2	np	np
5 and less than 10 days		1	np	np	-	-	-
10 days and over		1	np	np	1	0.1	2.4
Total		20	3.8	4.1	9	1.1	3.3
			REASON WORK RESUMED
Negotiation without intervention of a third party		2	np	np	1	np	np
State legislation		-	-	-	-	-	-
Federal legislation		-	-	-	-	-	-
Pre-determined return to work		16	3.7	3.5	3	0.4	2.7
Resumption without negotiation		-	-	-	5	np	np
Mediation		1	np	np	-	-	-
Other reasons		1	np	np	-	-	-
Total		20	3.8	4.1	9	1.1	3.3

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

Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

Data downloads

Table 1: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period

Data files

Download xls [86 KB]

Table 2a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, industry

Data files

Download xls [103 KB]

Table 2b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, industry

Data files

Download xls [101 KB]

Table 3a: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost, states and territories

Data files

Download xls [150.5 KB]

Table 3b: Industrial disputes which occurred during the period, working days lost per thousand employees, states and territories

Data files

Download xls [140 KB]

Table 4a: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, cause of dispute

Data files

Download xls [335 KB]

Table 4b: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, working days lost per employee involved

Data files

Download xls [149.5 KB]

Table 4c: Industrial disputes which ended during the period, reason work resumed

Data files

Download xls [257.5 KB]

All data cubes

Data files

Download zip [404.14 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6321.0.55.001.

Industrial Disputes, Australia

Key statistics

Main features

Quarterly estimates

Year ended estimates

Tables

Inquiries

Data downloads

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

All data cubes

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Industrial Disputes, Australia methodology, September 2020

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