Strike statistics

The latest strike statistics, covering the year to October 2012, show education as the sector with the most disputes.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal a total of 123 disputes involving 1,369,400 workers and 1,239.100 working days. Of this, education had 36 disputes involving 553,800 workers and 484,800 working days. The next largest number of disputes was in the transport sector with 33 disputes involving 22,800 workers and 32,600 working days.

Industrial action in the transport sector tends to last longer than action in the other sectors, and one example is the ongoing action involving signal workers employed by Network Rail in the Stirling area. The signallers, members of the RMT transport union, are in dispute over rostering and have taken strike action on several occasions over the last two years.

Their latest strike was on 12 January. The RMT is now considering escalating the action and has been consulting all signalling members across Scotland.

In the education sector there have been a number of strikes in the last year over the imposition of academy status on schools.

Among other strikes, teachers at Sinfin Community School in Derby took two days’ strike action in December 2012 over a plan to force the school to become an academy.

And in east London, NUT members took several days of action at the end of last year at Connaught School in Leystonstone over the school converting to academy status.