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| Organized labor |
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A number of labour strikes, labour disputes, and other industrial actions occurred in 2017.
| Part of a series on |
| Organized labor |
|---|
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A number of labour strikes, labour disputes, and other industrial actions occurred in 2017.
A labor strike is a work stoppage, caused by the mass refusal of employees to work, usually in response to employee grievances, such as low pay or poor working conditions. Strikes can also take place to demonstrate solidarity with workers in other workplaces or to pressure governments to change policies.
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According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 79 work stoppages in the United Kingdom in 2017, with 276,000 working days lost and 33,000 workers involved. This marked a new record for the lowest number of strikes in a single year in the UK since the ONS began keeping records in 1981. [20] 68% of the working days lost were lost in the transport and storage industry. [21] In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracked 7 major work stoppages in 2017, the second-lowest since it began keeping records in 1947. [22] In South Africa, the Department of Employment and Labour tracked 132 work stoppages in 2017, an increase of 10 from 2016, involving a total of 125‚000 workers. [23]