Last year was a relatively peaceful one on the industrial relations front, despite a number of high profile disputes, according to figures released today.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show there were 21,257 days lost to industrial disputes in 2002, the lowest annual total going back as far as 1970.
The 2002 total represents a sharp fall from the 114,613 days lost in 2001. The total days lost in 2002 remains significantly less than the total days lost in 2001 even allowing for the impact the teachers' dispute had on the 2001 figures.
There were 27 industrial disputes in 2002, all of which began in the year. The 27 disputes in progress in 2002 affected 3,553 workers and 43 firms.
The manufacturing industry accounted for 8,989 (42.3 per cent) of the total days lost, with the health and social work area accounting for another 5,465 (25.7 per cent).
The statistics are based on details supplied by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and on information collected directly by the CSO.
Disputes are included in the figures if they involve a stoppage of work lasting for at least one day and the total time lost is 10 or more person-days.
The number of days lost is calculated by multiplying the number of persons involved in industrial disputes by the number of normal working days during which they were involved in the dispute.
Persons working for about 40 hours per week are assumed to be working the equivalent of a five-day week even if the work is spread over more than five days.