Days lost to strikes and lock-outs rocket
DAYS lost from strikes and lock-outs nearly doubled last year to its highest annual level since 2004.
Nearly a quarter of a million working days were lost in 2011 to industrial action, Bureau of Statistics data shows, as critics blamed Labor's Fair Work laws for the rise.
Labor's Fair Work laws took effect in mid 2009 and for the first 18 months industrial action remained near record low levels. But 2011 was marked by a significant rise in days lost from industrial action which included the high profile Qantas dispute.
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said ''we are seeing significant increases in industrial disputation'' and warned that Labor's moves to abolish the building industry watchdog would give ''militant union bosses'' more power to disrupt worksites.
Unions and the Gillard government downplayed the increase. Workplace relations minister Bill Shorten blamed disputes between Liberal state governments and public servants and the Qantas dispute.
Mr Shorten said days lost in the December quarter fell from the previous quarter. Data on strikes varies wildly from quarter to quarter but 2011 marked the first significant rise under the Fair Work system.
ACTU president Ged Kearney said the mid-year rise in days lost to industrial action was largely due to a one-day public sector rally in NSW.
"The facts are that the Fair Work Act is operating well and the number of days lost to industrial action remains near record lows,'' she said.
Ms Kearney said disputes were ''not all one-way traffic'' and ''often these disputes have dragged on because of the employer's unwillingness to engage in genuine negotiations with workers''.
According to the ABS data, the long term trend for strikes has been down. In 1991, days lost to industrial action were in excess of 1.5 million days, more than six times higher than last year's figures
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Days losts to strikes and lock-outs rocket