Fewer industrial disputes in Aust.

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 6

Fewer industrial disputes in Aust.

NZPA-AAP Sydney Australian workers are striking less often but for longer periods, according to the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation. According to 1.L.0. figures, Australia was part of a world-wide trend towards fewer industrial disputes which began a decade ago and continued through 1983. In 1974, Australia experienced 2809 strikes compared with 1788 in 1983. Australia still had more strikes during the year than many other industrialised countries. In Britain the figure dropped from almost 3000

to 1352 in the 10 years, and in Japan strikes dropped markedly from 5000 to about 900 during 1983. “This growing reluctance among workers to resort to strike action is particularly apparent in industrialised market economy countries where the drop in the number of strikes during the 10year period was especially dramatic,” the report said. Of the 51 countries that made figures available, the year book showed that in 1983 there were 6 per cent fewer strikes involving 26 per cent fewer workers compared with the previous year. Although 107.8 million working days were lost, it was a drop of 24 per cent on 1982.