The number of days lost at work in Ireland due to industrial disputes last year reached an eight-year low last year, it emerged today.
More than 30,000 days were lost compared to 37,000 in 2003, 114,000 in 2001 and 215,000 in 1999.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), which published its industrial disputes analysis today, said there were 11 last year compared with 24 in 2003.
The longest running-dispute was at the General Electric Superabrasives plant in Dublin. Around 230 Siptu members took industrial action for four months to secure job guarantees from management, leading to a loss of almost 1,600 working days.
The transport, communications and storage sector accounted for 59 per cent of disputes.
The two largest strikes were at An Post and Irish Ferries last December.
Around 7,500 postal workers mounted a 24-hour stoppage over job security and pay issues, and 120 ferry workers went on a 10-day strike to protest at plans to crew services to France with foreign staff.
A dispute over the filling of internal vacancies at Bus Éireann in Galway led to a two-day strike last November and the loss of 179 working days.
The CSO receives data from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and calculates the number of days lost by multiplying the number of workers involved by the number of normal working days.
The figures do not include disputes that lasted for less than one full day. Security guard escorts at Brinks Allied went on strike last summer on the grounds that new procedures for armed robberies were unsafe.
Cash machines in parts of the country were left empty, and 1,030 working days were lost before the dispute was resolved by the Labour Court.
Prison doctors ended a 14-week strike in August after accepting a deal to double their salaries.