Over 4,000 days lost to industrial disputes

More than 4,000 days were lost to industrial disputes in the first quarter of the year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office showed today.

Some 4,151 days were lost in the first three months of the year, compared to 11,327 for the same period last year.

The transportation and storage sector accounted for the majority of the disputes, at 1,905 or 46 per cent of the total days lost.

During the period, there were seven disputes in progress involving 236 workers and seven firms. Only five actually began in the quarter.

In the final quarter of 2009, some 248,176 days were lot to such action, with 266,344 workers involved. Three quarters of these days were lost in the public sector, with the one-day National Public Sector dispute in the fourth quarter accounting for a total of 237,268 days lost.

In comparison, the first quarter of the year showed only 114 days were lost ithe same sectors, with 80 workers in human health and social work activities taking part.